Sunday, November 07, 2004
What is the most expensive individual animal, weight for weight?
Reviving a feature that hasn't run for perhaps nine months, in which I attempt to answer an ungooglable question single-handed: Research Day.
I was keen to know what was the most ever paid, by weight, for an individual animal specimen, either living or dead. I have discounted amounts paid in conservation efforts. (Though in that field, the 18 pygmy owls of Tucson, probably win.) My initial shortlist was composed of six strong contenders: thoroughbred racehorse; koi carp; Dorcus Hopei (Japanese Giant Stag Beetle); beluga sturgeon; musk deer; Methuselah mouse.
Racehorse
Guinness come up trumps here, citing Seattle Dancer as the most expensive animal ever sold at $13.1 million. I couldn't find an exact weight for Seattle Dancer, but assuming roughly 600kg, that's $21800 per kilo.
Beluga
Caviar prices are skyrocketing thanks to CITES cuts in the quotas. A beluga can weigh in at up to 500kg, but for our quest this is irrelevant. A female sturgeon is approximately one fifth caviar. Thus the per animal weight answer is actually one fifth of the value of the most expensive caviar. Almas Caviar retails at $23000 per kilo, and that includes the cost of the 24k gold tin. Obviously racehorses can cost more than beluga.
Koi Carp
This was really tough to research, but in the Aquarium Hobbyist Forums, I saw confirmation of $125,000 per fish, and speculation of up to $500,000. A big koi could weigh 9 kg, so this works out as $55000 per kilo, if our top estimate of price is correct.
Dorcus Hopei
I've covered this topic before, and found confirmation of high prices here. Japanese Beetle-maniacs can pay upwards of $40000 for a good sized wild beetle. Weighing no more than about 30 grams, we have a new record of $1.3 million per kilo.
Musk Deer
This turned out to be a red herring. Musk is the most expensive mammal product. However an article from National Geographic, points out that each musk stag only yields 23 grams of musk, for about $70. That's way off the pace.
Methuselah Mouse
Now that the Ansari X-Prize has been won, the next best thing is the Methuselah Mouse Prize. The prize is awarded to the oldest living mouse in existence. GHR-KO 11C (nickname "Mouse") was the inaugural champ, surviving to almost 5 years. Sadly for his owner Andrzej Bartke, as the benchmark geriatric mouse, he didn't actually win any of the prize. The next competitor was called Yoda, but he too sadly passed away just after his fourth birthday, in April this year. The oldest currently living (eligible) mice belong to Dr Christian Sell. If any of them beat GHR-KO 11C, they stand to win a fortune. The prize fund has apparently recently swelled to over $500,000 dollars. The formula for calculating a win depends on how longlived the mouse is. Assuming the mouse exceeds the record by 10%, he would win 1/11th of the prize, or $45000. A normal mouse weighs in at 20 grams, but we can tell from this photo that an insulin deprived dwarf mouse weighs no more than 5 grams. This makes the putative Methuselah mouse the most expensive animal specimen ever at $9.1 million per kilo.
I welcome suggestions for other expensive animals, or of course corrections to my calculations or analysis. (Incidentally, in the course of all this research, this was the single awesomest thing I found.)
Reviving a feature that hasn't run for perhaps nine months, in which I attempt to answer an ungooglable question single-handed: Research Day.
I was keen to know what was the most ever paid, by weight, for an individual animal specimen, either living or dead. I have discounted amounts paid in conservation efforts. (Though in that field, the 18 pygmy owls of Tucson, probably win.) My initial shortlist was composed of six strong contenders: thoroughbred racehorse; koi carp; Dorcus Hopei (Japanese Giant Stag Beetle); beluga sturgeon; musk deer; Methuselah mouse.
Racehorse
Guinness come up trumps here, citing Seattle Dancer as the most expensive animal ever sold at $13.1 million. I couldn't find an exact weight for Seattle Dancer, but assuming roughly 600kg, that's $21800 per kilo.
Beluga
Caviar prices are skyrocketing thanks to CITES cuts in the quotas. A beluga can weigh in at up to 500kg, but for our quest this is irrelevant. A female sturgeon is approximately one fifth caviar. Thus the per animal weight answer is actually one fifth of the value of the most expensive caviar. Almas Caviar retails at $23000 per kilo, and that includes the cost of the 24k gold tin. Obviously racehorses can cost more than beluga.
Koi Carp
This was really tough to research, but in the Aquarium Hobbyist Forums, I saw confirmation of $125,000 per fish, and speculation of up to $500,000. A big koi could weigh 9 kg, so this works out as $55000 per kilo, if our top estimate of price is correct.
Dorcus Hopei
I've covered this topic before, and found confirmation of high prices here. Japanese Beetle-maniacs can pay upwards of $40000 for a good sized wild beetle. Weighing no more than about 30 grams, we have a new record of $1.3 million per kilo.
Musk Deer
This turned out to be a red herring. Musk is the most expensive mammal product. However an article from National Geographic, points out that each musk stag only yields 23 grams of musk, for about $70. That's way off the pace.
Methuselah Mouse
Now that the Ansari X-Prize has been won, the next best thing is the Methuselah Mouse Prize. The prize is awarded to the oldest living mouse in existence. GHR-KO 11C (nickname "Mouse") was the inaugural champ, surviving to almost 5 years. Sadly for his owner Andrzej Bartke, as the benchmark geriatric mouse, he didn't actually win any of the prize. The next competitor was called Yoda, but he too sadly passed away just after his fourth birthday, in April this year. The oldest currently living (eligible) mice belong to Dr Christian Sell. If any of them beat GHR-KO 11C, they stand to win a fortune. The prize fund has apparently recently swelled to over $500,000 dollars. The formula for calculating a win depends on how longlived the mouse is. Assuming the mouse exceeds the record by 10%, he would win 1/11th of the prize, or $45000. A normal mouse weighs in at 20 grams, but we can tell from this photo that an insulin deprived dwarf mouse weighs no more than 5 grams. This makes the putative Methuselah mouse the most expensive animal specimen ever at $9.1 million per kilo.
I welcome suggestions for other expensive animals, or of course corrections to my calculations or analysis. (Incidentally, in the course of all this research, this was the single awesomest thing I found.)
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