Tiger Bones – $20,000/Kg

In yet another example of how traditional and unproven ‘medicine’ can decimate a species, we have the illegal tiger bone trade. This sordid affair sees these big cats’ lives stolen constantly to make medicine such as tiger cake, a boiled-down form of the bone, that apparently cures things such as arthritis. It doesn’t.

But tradition still flourishes in certain parts of the world, and thus superstition runs rife. This means that this sorry excuse for tricking people can cost up to twenty-thousand dollars per kilogram. If anyone had that kind of money to throw around on a whim, they should go see a real doctor.