The extraordinary find – which raises hopes of cloning the long-gone species back to life – was unveiled today in Yakutsk, capital of Russia’s largest and coldest region, the Sakha Republic.
The cub was aged between six and eight weeks old when it died for unknown reasons.
But the level of its preservation in the Siberian deep freezer is causing huge excitement in scientific circles.
The preservation is so good that “it raises hopes of cloning the species back to life”, reported The Siberian Times citing Dr Albert Protopopov, an expert with the regional academy of sciences were once the largest big cats on the planet, living in cold regions in the northern hemisphere before they were wiped out.
“It is a perfectly preserved lion cub, all the limbs have survived,” he said.
“There are no traces of external injuries on the skin.”
The condition is better than the find of two new-born cubs named Uyan and Dina two years ago.
One of these is believed to contain its mother’s milk from pre-historic times.
Originally thought to be 12,000 years old, dating to around the time the species became extinct, later research showed them to be up to 55,000 year ago.
Tests will be carried out on the latest cub to discover its exact age but the current estimate is between 20,000 and 50,000 years old.
Analysis of the creature’s teeth is expected to give a good indication of the age.
Significant results are expected after around three years of research on the frozen remains, said the scientist.
The ancient animal was found in permafrost on the bank of Tirekhtykh River, in the Abyisky district of Yakutia.
Local resident Boris Berezhnov spotted the carcass of an ‘unrecognisable animal’ in September after a fall water level in the remote river.
Its length is around 18 inches, with a weight of almost 9lbs.