Iran's first surviving cloned lamb has been named "Royana" after the institute where it was born, the official IRNA News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Officials of the Royan Research Center in Isfahan have picked " Royana" from a list of suggested names for the cloned lamb that was born in the center Saturday morning.

Royana is Iran's second cloned lamb while the first died five minutes after it was born in the same center in August, IRNA said.

According to a statement issued by the center, Royana's scientific name is "Royan-SHA-C2."

In the scientific name, SH stands for the first two letters of the cloned species -- sheep while the third letter A stands for the sheep's race -- Afshari.

In the last section of the scientific name, letter C indicates that the lamb is a cloned one and the following number of two indicates that it is the second cloned sheep born in the country.

Iran's second cloned lamb was delivered through a caesarian at half past midnight on Saturday and is now under special veterinary care.

The survival of Royana makes Iran be the only Middle Eastern state that has been able to clone a lamb.

Source: Xinhua