World's most expensive falcon auctioned for $1 million in Libya
A young peregrine falcon.
© Getty Images/Jason Miller
Text by: RFI Follow
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Libya saw the auction of the most expensive falcon in the world this week.
The equivalent of one million dollars in Libyan dinars was paid to win.
It is a female falcon, a rare and pure race called shaheen.
A subspecies of the peregrine falcon family, highly valued by falconry enthusiasts.
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The auction took place on social networks, precisely on TikTok.
For hours, fans hung on their cell phones.
The auction was very well attended and the competition was fierce.
In the end, it was a businessman with a dubious reputation, close to Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who won it.
"غغلى طير حر يباع في ليبيا" .. بيع صقر من نوع "أبحرية" النادر بمبلغ 4 مليون و 700 ألف دينار. #بوابه
— بوابة أفريقيا الإخبارية (@NetAfrigatenews) October 24, 2022
It is very rare and very difficult to capture this kind of falcon due to its strength and speed.
It flies between 40 and 55 km per hour.
If chased, it could reach 114km/hour, hence its high price.
Some use it for flight hunting of other bird species.
This agile predator captures its prey with its long, developed nails.
It attacks them at a very high height which varies between 300 and 3,000 meters above sea level.
Among the specific abilities of this species, its aerodynamic silhouette and its pointed wings, which allow it to fly quickly.
It seems that his body structure inspired military aircraft engineers who tried to imitate his way of flying, hunting and attacking.
This female raptor was poached in southwestern Libya earlier this month, while the capture season in Libya runs from October to November.
As for the buyer who paid 1 million dollars to obtain this falcon, he is a businessman, suspected of trafficking in cannabis and tramadol.
As soon as he bought it, he offered it to Saddam Haftar, head of the Tarek ben Ziad brigade, of the Libyan national army led by Marshal Haftar.
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