THE world’s most expensive sheep sold in Scotland last week for well over £350,000.
The Texel ram lamb, which sold for £367,500 at the Scottish National Texel Sale in Lanark, was bought by a three-way partnership of farmers.
The buyers said he was the best specimen they had ever seen.
But what other animals are the most expensive ever sold?
Here is a selection of the top five:
1: Big Splash
Big Splash broke the record for the most expensive dog ever sold when he was bought by a Chinese businessman for $1.5 million US dollars (£1.125m) in 2011.
The purebred Red Tibertan Mastiff, apparently a “perfect specimen”, weighed 81kg at just 11 months old.
The Tibetan Mastiff has long been one of the most expensive dog breeds, and they regularly sell in the UK for anything between £1000 and £5000.
2: Ashera cats
The most expensive cat ever sold isn’t a single animal but an entire breed.
Ashera cats are bred by crossbreeding the African Serval and the Asian Leopard cat, and then adding a dash of domestic cat into the mix.
They are bred by the Los Angeles-based company Lifestyle Pets, which also produced the world’s first hypoallergenic cats.
There is a lot of controversy in the cat world around whether Asheras are their own breed or simply dressed-up Savannahs, which are domestic cat-Serval cat hybrids.
Nevertheless, they can only be bought directly from the LA firm and cost between $22,000 and $125,000 (£16,000-£93,000).
3: America
America, the most expensive bovine ever sold, is an Angus bull that went for $1.51 million (£1.13m) in the US last year.
The bull was bred by Schaff Angus Valley, a ranch in North Dakota, which said: “He [America] presents himself with true herd bull authority – long bodied, thick, square-hipped, deep and massive with a sound structure, large scrotal and gentle disposition.”
America weighed in at 1107 pounds (502kg) at just 205 days old. That is around 200kg more than the breed average at that age.
He was sold to another US ranch, Herbster Angus in Nebraska, which now has 80% rights to the animal’s semen for stud purposes, while the seller maintains the other 20%.
4: Yorkshire boar
The most expensive pig ever sold was a Yorkshire boar, which went for $270,000 (£202,000) at an auction in the USA in 2014.
The pig, raised by Western Illinois University School of Agriculture Associate Professor Mark Hoge and his family, sold for $267,000 more than the second most expensive animal in its class.
The Yorkshire, or Large White, was originally bred for bacon but rose to prominence in the lean-meat category through the 1900s.
Created by crossing the indigenous white pig of North England with the smaller, fatter, white Chinese pig, this breed is now the world’s most widely distributed.
5: Fusaichi Pegasus
Fusaichi Pegasus isn’t just the most expensive horse ever sold, but the thoroughbred may also be the most expensive animal ever to change hands.
The horse, which won the Kentucky Derby in May 2000, sold under a month later for a reported figure of somewhere between $60 million and $70 million (£45m-£56m).
Speaking at the time, one expert said: “It's a one-off situation.
“It doesn't mean that the next Derby winner is worth $60 million. But there is industry consensus that this is a superb horse, and when you have that consensus, the market can go crazy."
However, Fusaichi Pegasus is widely considered to have been a disappointing stud, as he failed to produce many winning offspring after his headline sale.
His stud fee has dropped from $150,000 (£112,000) in 2001 to just $7500 (£5600) today.
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