Noori, a cloned pashmina goat, stands near her surrogate mother inside a sheep breeding center at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Alastang, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Srinagar, India, Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Scientists at the university successfully cloned the world's first pashmina goat, prized for its fine wool, according to news reports. – AP Photo

SRINAGAR, India: Scientists in Indian-controlled Kashmir have cloned a rare Himalayan goat in hopes of boosting the number of animals famed for their coats of pashmina wool, used to make cashmere.

Lead project scientist Riaz Ahmad Shah says the March 9 birth of a cloned female kid could lead to breeding programs for cashmere-producing goats in other Himalayan regions and mass production of the silky soft wool.

Cashmere goats take their name from the Kashmir region and are found in parts of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau. In Kashmir they are concentrated in remote, barren areas of the Ladakh region, bordering China.

Shah's team at Sher-i-Kashmir University took two years to clone the kid.