5 of the most expensive pets in the world

Listen this article

While one can be fond of any animal rescued from the street, there are several people who do not hesitate to spend a fortune for a rare and eccentric pet

More than pets, the animals that we keep in our homes are our family. It may not always be the case, but the furry ones usually earn an enviable place in the hearts of families. From a stray dog to a small pig, humans fall in love and we give them shelter and food in exchange for their love. However, not everyone wants to adopt any local street dog or Siamese cat. There are some who love to have exotic, rare and extravagant animals. The opulence of some is capable of incurring in illegal animal trafficking businesses, but this is not the place to talk about this delicate inhuman issue, but about some of the more expensive domestic animals that one can legally obtain in the market.

Leer en español: 5 de las mascotas más caras del mundo

Tibetan mastiff

If the lion had its canine counterpart, it would surely be the Tibetan mastiff. It is a mistake to think that this little fluffy dog is a gentle and affectionate dog. Although they look like loving little bears, before Tibetan mastiffs were designated as guard dogs, be it of cattle, important buildings or notorious characters. The mastiff is the biggest dog in our times. Finding a purebred mastiff is supremely difficult. The most expensive one that was sold went for the modest price of … a million and a half dollars.

Palm cockatoo

This is one of the most intelligent birds in the world, if not the most intelligent one. It is also one of those that survive the longest, since they can reach half a century of life. Its cost is around $ 16,000, not only because of its beautiful black and red plumage, but because it is one of those that best imitate the human voice. This is one of the animals preferred by zoos thanks to the three attributes mentioned above, but they are not unique to these places. There are few millionaires who own one of these cockatoos, also known as Goliath cockatoos, in their mansions, not only to impress their guests, but to feel less lonely.

Golden Python albino

What kind of demented would have a pet snake? Surely many of us think that the only person able to have a pet snake would be Voldemort. Nagini, the snake, is in fact a python, one of the most expensive pets in the world. The golden albino python has a very rare color mutation, because of the recessive genes. In addition, their eyes are red, some more intense than the others, which makes them majestic and imposing animals. While they manage to almost triple the human in length and look as dark as Voldemort's snake, they can easily be tamed so that, you know, they do not strangle or eat the corpse of the animal's former master.

Read also: Do you know what periodontal disease is in dogs and cats?

Flying deer

No, it's not literally a flying deer, although, if that were so, it would surely be the most expensive animal in history. The flying deer is, in reality, a beetle. That's right, there are people out there willing to pay up to $ 89,000 for a male of these, most of all in Japan. Although it influences that it is an insect rare to find in nature, its high price is given by its aesthetic appeal: it is the largest beetle of all and its antennae, those responsible for the name deer, are quite striking.

However, not every beetle exceeds a thousand dollars. For a Japanese or insect enthusiast to disburse an absurd amount of money for a flying deer, the beetle must be visually stunning. This is the work of hatcheries that cross beetles to obtain unique breeds. That's right, almost identical to the work done with canines.

Sadly only the beautiful flying deer are sold at huge prices. These beetles, unfortunately, star in an illegal market of fighter deer. As it happens with cockfights or dogs, several people gather to see two of these beetles fight to the death, betting thousands of dollars for the winner. The winner is usually sold by someone who reproduces it to have more dominant beetles.

Clone

That's right, we live in a world where people pay tens of thousands of dollars for cloning their pets to never lose them. The first cloned mammal was Dolly the sheep in 1996; the first cloned cat was Copy Cat in 2001; and the first dog, Snuppy, in 2005. The latter was named the invention of the year by Time magazine. However, the first commercially cloned pet was Sir Lancelot Encore, a labrador, son of a retired couple in Florida. The Otto, from Boca Raton, suffered the unexpected loss of Sir Lancelot when he was 11, as a result of an unexpected cancer. The labrador's death left them so desolate that they decided to bring him back, so to speak. The couple hired Bioarts International, a South Korean laboratory, to sell them a clone of Sir Lancelot. For this exact genetic replication, they disbursed 155,000 dollars.

The Otto opened the door to commercial cloning. A celebrity customer of the cloning of pets is Barbra Streissand that in 2017 managed to clone three dogs. Although the only ones offering this service were South Koreans, lately in Europe and North America there was a significant increase in laboratories dedicated to cloning animals, more than all dogs and cats for families that can not overcome their death. Prices range from $ 50,000 to $ 150,000 per cloned.

LatinAmerican Post | Pedro Vergara

Translated from "5 de las mascotas más caras del mundo"