The Top 5 Most Expensive Animals Ever Sold

The Top 5 Most Expensive Animals Ever Sold

Pet ownership has experienced a major boom in recent years. World pet markets are growing rapidly with the UK featuring amongst the world’s leaders, and US pet spending reportedly corresponding to a total of $53.33 billion in 2012 alone. In addition, rare breeds and exotic pets are becomingly increasingly sought after adding to the already multi-billion worldwide pet sales industry. However, now we have started to notice a diversity in pet-lovers’ spending habits, and an appreciation not only for animals that we can keep at home, as demonstrated in our list of the top 5 Most Expensive Animals Ever Sold.

Lancelot Encore, the Labrador – $155 thousand

Not only was cute little Lancelot Encore one of the most expensive dogs ever sold, he was also the first commercially-cloned puppy in the world. Couple from Florida, Edgar and Nina Otto, lost their beloved yellow Labrador Lancelot to cancer in 2008. Luckily for them, Northern Californian biotech company Bio-Arts was auctioning off a dog-cloning, worth an impressive $155,000.

Made of the same DNA as his predecessor, Lancelot Encore looks just like their first pet and, according to his owners, is demonstrating a similar personality too!

Deveronvale Perfection, the Sheep – $376,691

Deveronvale Perfection, a Texel sheep, was sold for an astonishing $376,691 in Scotland, breaking the world record price for a sheep set in Australia in 1989 ($334,293). Originating on the isle of Texel, the largest of the Frisian Islands, they are white faced with no wool on their head or legs. The Texel breed of sheep are particularly renowned for their remarkable muscle development, the result of which is a lean meat carcass. Jerry Douglas, the farmer who purchased Deveronvale Perfection from fellow sheep farmer Graham Morrison, declared it was the best sheep he had ever seen and just had to buy him.

Missy, the Dairy Cow – $1,2 million

Missy, a Holstein breed of cow, renowned for being the world’s highest-production dairy animals, sold for a whopping $1,2 million in 2009. This purchase, made at an auction in Uxbridge, Ontario in Canada, has made Missy the current most expensive cow in the world and earned her second place position on our list of the top 5 most expensive animals ever sold. She features amongst 4 other cows in the world sold for more than $1 million. In addition to her hefty price tag, Missy has been recipient of various awards including when she was dubbed Grand Champion of the 2009 Western Fall National Show and named Supreme Grand Champion Of All Breeds in 2011. That’s quite a cow.

Big Splash, the Tibetan Mastiff – $1.5 million

Big Splash the Red Tibetan Mastiff, was bought in February 2011 for a whopping $1.516, 819 beating previous record holder, Yangtze River Number Two, for the most expensive dog ever sold. Also a Red Tibetan Mastiff, this fluffy red pooch was bought by a Chinese lady in 2009 for around $582,000. Considered one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious dog breeds, Big Splash was purchased at an auction held in Quindao, China by a multimillionaire coal baron. Normally a Tibetan Mastiff pup sells for around $2,200 to $7,000 however, the owner declared that his new best friend is a “perfect” specimen therefore, the price he paid for 11-month old Big Splash is more than justified.

The Green Monkey, the Racehorse – $16 million

Ranking number 1 in our list of the top 5 most expensive animals ever sold is the Green Monkey. Reportedly bought for a world record price of $16,000,000, the Green Monkey refers to an American Thoroughbred racehorse sold in auction at Calder Race Course in 2006. The horse’s name was lent from the Green Monkey golf course in Barbados, in addition to the fact that he was foaled in the Chinese Year of the wooden/green monkey. Despite, the owners’ “rich” ambitions Green Monkey failed to come first in a horse race ever, thus followed his retirement in February 2008.