What makes a dromedary, or Arabian camel, is beautiful, it is of course its posture, its graceful neck, its very long and drooping lips, its not too small muzzle. Its bump, of course: it must be well drawn. All of this is very standardized. The most famous competition in the world, the “mister universe of the camelid”, is that of the King Abdulaziz festival, near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. An extraordinary festival in the middle of the desert which lasts 40 days. We can meet more than 30,000 breeders there from the Gulf but also from the United States, Russia, France even this year, we are told. There are camel milk tastings, demonstrations, races, with prizes totaling 58 million euros. It’s like a thoroughbred community. In Saudi Arabia camels are both a Bedouin tradition, a cultural symbol, and a real business.
This beauty contest, this year, was a disaster because candidates again tried to cheat. The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reports that this year, 27 competitors were disqualified for artificially stretching parts of their bodies. That is to say that we used powerful elastics to change their morphology. Sixteen others were killed for having received injections of Botox, a filler to redraw the oval of their jaw. For fuller lips, some preferred the collagen technique, others still received hormones to stimulate their muscle growth.
The organizers have been taking this very seriously since a first scandal broke in 2018. That year, some animals had even gone under the knife to reduce their ears. Today, maximum vigilance. The competitors first paraded in front of veterinarians and employees of the Ministry of Agriculture who scrutinized their appearance and their movements. Then their head, neck and torso were scanned with X-ray and 3D ultrasound machines. And the cheaters quickly unmasked. But it’s worrying because there have never been so many.
The organizers have promised “strict penalties”. In theory up to five years of competition ban for manipulators. But the greed is sometimes stronger. Because a beautiful camel is worth at least 200,000 euros, a very, very beautiful camel up to 1 million euros.