How do you judge a camel beauty contest?

BBC News ^ | Feb. 10, 2010 | Malcolm Borthwick

[Free ThinkerNY]

They're tall, they're blonde, they're elegant, and at the height of their careers they can command millions of dollars. Supermodels? No, camels.

In the remote Western Region of the United Arab Emirates, 28,000 of the humped beasts gathered at the end of January for what was billed as the biggest camel beauty contest ever.

Normally, there's nothing there but sand, but the al-Dhafra Festival filled the arid desert with breeders and their herds, some of which had been driven from as far as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The pens bustled with activity. Thousands of people from around The Gulf watched the action from the stands. A handful of judges sifted through the camel pens picking out the top talent.

"The head is the most important thing and this is what we look at first," Mohammed Abdullah al-Mehairi, the head judge, told the BBC.

"We are looking for camels with big heads, firm ears, broad cheeks and big whiskers. There is no single important thing - the neck and body should be long, the hump and the back should be big, and we also look at the colour and posture of the camel."

Bedouin tradition

Camels of different ages and types competed in 48 different categories - winning a total of $10m - during the 10-day festival, which ended on Monday.

"The most important competition is the al-Bayraq lap where breeders put forward their best 50 camels and parade them around the track," Mr al-Mehairi explained.

"Most of the competitors are female because… females look better."

[DeFault User]

I assume everyone has heard the joke about Bill Clinton's visit to a military outpost in the desert and his question to the troops about what they did for fun. (I can't repeat it here, but John Boy and Billy put it on the radio one morning back during the day.)

['Actually, Mr. President, we only use Ol' Joe there to ride into town."]

[Doogle]

How do you judge a camel beauty contest?

.."from a distance with binoculars, they stink and spit"

[Noumenon]

Does it have Helen Thomas in it?

[Gator113]

“Most of the competitors are female because… females look better.”

Hmmmmm Trans-species but straight?

[ml/nj]

I have an idea.

First get yourself a group of horny Islamic Swine ...

ML/NJ

[One_Upmanship]

[exnavy]

Beauty is truely in the eye of the beholder.

[aeonspromise]

With all the camels facing mecca who could tell..

[aeonspromise]

Those virgin ones go for a pretty penny..

[RichInOC]

The same way they judge human beauty contests...the one with the best humps wins.

[scoobysnak71]

Yeah, STRUT that stuff, girl! Yeahhhhh, come here, let daddy pet ya a little......

Oh wait, you mean we're supposed to have pics of Arab GOATS? Oh shoot, I thought it was Arab women......BRENDA! Go eat your flower somewhere else, I gotta put up a pic of an Arab goat!

[mikrofon]

No doubt the winnners will make it into this popular dating site

[aruanan]

How do you judge a camel beauty contest?

Most likely to hump?

[Slings and Arrows]

Cue theme "music"...

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

[paulycy]

[Xenalyte]

How do you judge a camel beauty contest?

FINALLY, someone asks a question that draws on my area of expertise.

[scoobysnak71]

>”FINALLY, someone asks a question that draws on my area of expertise. “

And?