Earliest named animal

The earliest known animal with a specific, individual name is "Beha", who was a curly-tailed hunting dog (or Tesem) that belonged to an Egyptian nobleman around 4,400 years ago. Beha is depicted in a fragment of a funerary carving dated to around 2400 BCE.

The name "Beha" was likely a diminutive form of "behkai" (meaning "antelope", which is known to have been a common Egyptian dog's name). It is depicted in what is likely a fragment of a picture that once showed the deceased's owner's worldly possessions, including animals.

We know far more about another dog from around the same time, "Abuwtiyuw", who was given an individual grave and monument by their owner some time before 2280 BCE (likely no later than 2350 BCE, but the stones were reused in a later building making precise dating impossible). His funerary monument has an inscription that reads as follows:

The dog which was the guard of his majesty. Abuwtiyuw is his name. His Majesty ordered that he be buried [ceremonially], that he be given a coffin from the royal treasury, fine linen in great quantity, [and] incense. His Majesty [also] gave perfumed ointment and [ordered] that a tomb be built for him by the gangs of masons. His Majesty did this for him in order that he [Abuwtiyuw] might be honored [before the great god Anubis]"

It's not clear whether "His majesty" was actually a reference to a pharaoh, or simply a whimsical turn of phrase used to describe the relationship between Abuwtiyuw and his master. Either way, the ceremonial burial of this dog could only have been carried out at considerable cost.