The ‘world’s most expensive animals’ does sound astounding, but in reality, it is more complex than it appears at first. Ranking any living animal by attached financial value might be a little distasteful for some, but few places like the pet markets, breeding farms, livestock auctions, and horse-racings will tell you otherwise. The price certain people are willing to pay to own a particular animal is often jaw-dropping. Creating history and legacy, several auctions, agricultural farms, and racing arenas bear the proof. The select club of Earth’s most valuable animals enlists these living wonder specimens.

Double Diamond

Some of the most mind-boggling numbers in money can be found in the world of agriculture, where trading of farming animals is most common. There is a unique lamb in the UK, called ‘Double Diamond’, which has valuable genetics, literally! A particularly impressive one, he is an example of a Texel Lamb, a rare breed originating from a small coastal island of the Netherlands. In late 2020, a consortium of farmers bought him for a whopping 350,000 guineas. While converted, that is £367,500 ($490,500/€411,300), an obscene amount to get a lamb’s genetics!

Big Dave

Big Dave is an award-winning Muscovy Drake, bred by owner Graham Hicks. According to Janice Houghton-Wallace, another breeder and secretary of the Turkey Club UK, Big Dave is truly a ‘big character’ with a nice temperament and beautiful poise. When Hicks was reluctantly selling Dave ahead of his retirement, aspirations were high from overseas breeders to acquire the bird for his potential bloodline. But Houghton-Wallace assembled a syndicate and bought the duck with a record-setting bid of £1,500 ($2,070/€1,760), only to give it back to her friend Hicks, as a surprise retirement gift!

Big Splash

Apart from the professional world of breeding, individual whims can also set the record in animal trading. Big Splash is a million-dollar Tibetan Mastiff dog sold for steeping 10 million Chinese Yuan, which is around £1.1m ($1.55m/€1.3m). The Chinese businessman, who invested this highest sum ever paid for a dog, successfully has made his gorgeous pet a status symbol in China.

In the past, IKEA has claimed that it would strive to become a carbon-neutral company that protects the environment, and now it seems it is proving its claims. The furniture and home furnishing shop has recently purchased 11,000 acres of forest in Georgia, which was land that was about to be lost to development.

IKEA Is Implementing Various Strategies to Reduce the Carbon Imprint of Its Business

IKEA bought the forest land in Georgia to ensure it remained intact and kept working on sucking up CO2 from the atmosphere. Apparently, the forest was bought as part of the company’s ongoing strategy to reduce the carbon imprint it creates through its chain. In addition to saving the trees, the purchase will save the valuable gopher tortoise that lives in the Altamaha Basin. The forest is now owned by an IKEA subsidiary known as Ingka Group. In the past, it has done work with The Conservation Fund, which is a non-profit organization that has protected millions of acres of US forests from fragmentation and development.

IKEA’s Ingka Group Is Setting the Highest International Standard for Forest Management

Both the Conservation Fund and Ingka are making sure to keep working forests in Georgia from being broken up into segments and developed. The organizations also make sure to take legal action to protect the forests, and this also protects the gopher tortoise, which is a priority species for conservation. Ingka Group owns some 616,000 acres of forests in both the US and Europe, and the company chooses to ensure it sets the highest international standards for proper forest management. According to an IKEA spokesperson, the company uses no significant amount of the wood from the forests it manages.

It seems that forest stewardship is just one of the many tactics IKEA uses to become a carbon-neutral company. They also announced that they would start buying used IKEA furniture from its clients and use it for resale. The company also uses less carbon-emitting materials and electric vans whenever it can.