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Old "blue eyes" is back- but not for long. Water buffalos are valuable and are sometimes used in place of currency here in Toraja. They are even given the names of cars - depending on their worth. Your buffalo might be a Toyota, or a Mercedes. But this blue-eyed albino is a Lamborghini. He's worth tens of thousands of dollars only because he's so rare. He would be no more useful in the field than his compeers, but he is not destined for field work, he's bought to be sacrificed - perhaps at a funeral ceremony - only to show that the owners can afford to do that. It's like buying an expensive sports car and sending it off a cliff - just because you can. Status is very important to these people. |