New Kim Pigeon from Belgium sell for record $1.9m

One racing pigeon from Belgium don set new record afta dem sell am for €1.6m ($1.9m, £1.4m).

Dem bin put up New Kim, di two-year-old female, for auction for just €200, but na one bidder from China on Sunday buy am for dat amount wey make record.

Kurt Van de Wouwer, wey im family raise di pigeon, say di news 'shock' dem, according to Reuters news agency.

Di record holder before na one four-year-old male wey dem sell for €1.25m.

Champion racer Armando, wey dem nickname di "Lewis Hamilton of pigeons" afta di Formula 1 world champion, don retire and don already born some number of chicks wen dem bin put am up for sale for 2019.

New Kim win some competitions for 2018 - including national middle-distance races - but don retire.

Like Armando, dem buy New Kim afta bidding war between two buyers from China, wia pigeon racing don popular in recent years.

Racing pigeons fit continue to dey burn chicks until dem don reach like 10 and e dey expected say New Kim new owners go use her for breeding.

But the auctioneers say dis one make di sale even more unusual.

"These record prices dey unbelievable, because dis na female," Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, di CEO and founder of di auction house Pipa, tell Reuters. "Usually na male dey worth more dan female because e fit produce more offspring."

Belgium for long don be home for pipo wey like pigeon well-well, with more dan 20,000 pigeon wey dey breed am for di kontri, according to Mr Gyselbrecht.