Scientists Clone World's First Pashmina Kid

NNN- Noori, the world’s first cloned pashmina kid, stands beside her surrogate mother, inside a sheep breeding centre at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Alastang, 25 km from Srinagar. Born March 9, 2012, the kid, weighing 1.3kg at birth, was successfully cloned by scientists at the university under a World Bank-funded project.Pashmina goat, prized for their fine wool; survive minus 40 degree Celsius temperature at an altitude of 14,000 feet. In spring, they shed their fibre, called soft pashm, six times finer than human hair. The fibre is used to spin famous Kashmiri shawls, scarves, and stoles. According to Kashmir animal husbandry director Farooq Ahmad Shah, the clone has come at a time when there has been a sharp fall in the number of pashmina goats, forcing many residents in upper reaches of Ladakh to turn to other jobs. Photo courtesy SKUAST-K---NNN