Life’s too short: World’s smallest cow – 20-inch high Rani – is posthumously recognised by Guinness World Records after sudden death caused by build-up of gas in its stomach
- Rani stood at just 20 inches tall and lived on a farm near Dhaka in Bangladesh, and became a tourist hit
- But tragedy struck on August 19 when the miniature cow suddenly died due to an internal gas build-up
- His owners had applied to Guinness World Records to have Rani recognised as the world’s smallest cow
- Now, the bovine sensation has won posthumous recognition as the shortest on the planet
A knee-high celebrity cow that became a sensation in Bangladesh has won posthumous recognition as the shortest on the planet just weeks after its untimely demise.
Rani, just 20 inches (50.8 centimetres) high, became an instant internet celebrity with tens of thousands of people rushing to the farm she lived on outside Dhaka for a glimpse of the miniature cow.
But just after its owners applied to Guinness World Records, tragedy struck on August 19 when the beloved bovine suddenly died due to a sudden internal build-up of gas.
The two-year-old cow’s owner Kazi Mohammad Abu Sufian said he received an email on Monday from Guinness World Records saying that Rani’s application had been accepted.
A statement on the Guinness website confirmed the miniature Bhutti world-record cow’s status, beating the previous holder, an Indian cow named Manikyam that stood 24 inchest (61 centimetres) from hoof to withers.
Rani the cow (pictured), standing at just 20 inches (50.8 centimetres) high, became an instant internet celebrity with tens of thousands of people rushing to the farm she lived on outside Dhaka for a glimpse of the miniature cow
Rani was a Bhutti, or Bhutanese, cow which is prized for its meat in Bangladesh. The other Bhuttis on the farm are twice Rani’s size (pictured – Rani with another Bhutti on his home farm in July)
Even regular sized goats dwarfed Rani, whose status as the smallest cow in the world was confirmed by Guinness World Record adjudicators posthumuously
‘We sent several video of Rani in line with Guinness World Records prescriptions. We have also sent the post-mortem report to the Guinness authorities to see that there was nothing unusual about her death,’ Sufian told AFP news agency.
Sufian said he had also sent Guinness Rani’s medical records after they asked whether she had received hormone injections.
‘We have a mixed feelings after Rani got the recognition. We are happy that she got her due honours. But we are at the same very sad because she is no more with us,’ Sufian said.
‘Her carer burst out crying as soon as we told him the news.’
Despite a nationwide transport shutdown because of record coronavirus infections and deaths at the time, people flocked in rickshaws to the farm in Charigram, some 19 miles southwest of Dhaka.
‘I have never seen anything like this in my life. Never,’ said Rina Begum, 30, who visited from a neighbouring town while Rani was still alive.
M.A. Hasan Howlader, manager of Shikor Agro farm, used a tape measure to show dozens of onlookers how much smaller Rani was compared to her closest rival.
Shikar Agro farm reportedly bought the cow from a farm in Naogaon shortly after its birth.
‘People come long distances despite the coronavirus lockdown. Most want to take selfies with Rani,’ Howlader told AFP back in July, adding Guinness World Records had promised a decision in three months.
‘More than 15,000 people have come to see Rani in the past three days alone,’ he said. ‘Honestly speaking, we are tired.’
The two-year-old dwarf cow became a media star and scores of newspapers and television stations flocked to cover the tiny bovine at a farm near Dhaka. However, on August 19 tragedy struck when Remi died from a build up of gas
The cow’s owner Kazi Mohammad Abu Sufian said he received an email on Monday from Guinness World Records saying that Rani’s application had been accepted as the world’s shortest
M.A. Hasan Howlader, manager of Shikor Agro farm, used a tape measure to show dozens of onlookers how Rani dwarfs her closest rival Manikyam, a cow in the Indian state Kerala that held the world record at the time of this picture being taken
Rani was a Bhutti, or Bhutanese, cow which is prized for its meat in Bangladesh. The other Bhuttis on the farm are twice Rani’s size.
‘We did not expect such huge interest,’ the farm manager said at the time of the rush of tourists earlier in the year.
‘We did not think people would leave their homes because of the worsening virus situation. But they have come here in droves.’
Sajedul Islam, the government’s chief vet for the region, said Rani was a product of ‘genetic inbreeding’ and was unlikely to become any bigger. Islam said he had told the farm to restrict the tourist influx.
‘I told them they should not allow so many people to crowd the farm.
‘They may carry diseases here that threaten Rani’s health,’ he said.
‘I have never seen anything like this in my life. Never,’ said Rina Begum, 30, who came from a neighbouring town to see Rani
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