Meet Horizon, the most expensive buffalo in the world

Horizon is worth a staggering £8.5 million and has been tagged the most expensive buffalo in the world. With a 56 inch horn span, Horizon is South Africa's most sought after buffalo bull. Horizon is such hot property that a 25% share in him was sold for over £2.1 million in February to South Africa-based businessman Peter Bellingham. Valuable purely due to his large horn span and impeccable genes, Horizon is a goldmine, with every farmer wanting a piece of the gene pool. One of Africa's big five, Game Reserve owners buy buffalo to attract tourists and Horizon offers them the opportunity to breed the biggest and the best herds.

And with hunting big business in Africa, buffalos with large horns spans like Horizon entice the most experienced of hunters in search of a prize catch. Horizon produces such good quality offspring that he more than triples the value of every buffalo he impregnates, with a normal pregnant buffalo worth an average £38,000, to one carrying Horizon's offspring being worth over £121,000. He is now owned by four South African businessmen and resides on the farm of one of his owners, Piet du Toit, in Rustenberg, South Africa.
Game breeder Piet du Toit, 45, said: 'Horizon is a buffalo that has the most unbelievable horn span in history, he is disease free and he is the biggest that has been breeding.
'An average buffalo's horn span is between 36 and 40 inches, Horizon's horns are 56 inches.
'It is rare that a bull carries genetics to his next generation, sometimes a good bull has offspring that is not of great quality.
'But in Horizon's case his offspring have unbelievable genetics and we therefore know that we are guaranteed excellent offspring by Horizon.