Brains not brawn: As well as using sheer brute force,
camel wrestlers feint and sweep their opponents legs to try and win a submission
And there's only one thing that will get these usually placid
ships of the desert to turn so fierce - mating season.
Once the two bulls are led out into the arena, a young cow is
paraded around to get them excited. The beasts are ready to clash,
the trainers know, when streams of viscous milky saliva
begin to stream from their mouths and nostrils.
Once the two bulls will get down to it and actually try to wrestle
one another they do not simply use brute force. They wrestle artfully,
feinting in here and there, eventually locking a fore-leg inside the leg of
the opposition and leaning on him to topple him over in a
dromedary's version of a wrestling fall and pin.
One... Two... Three... You're outta there! Camel fights continue until one
is pinned to the floor or runs away
The fights, while savage, are not usually fatal. Each camel's mouth is tied tightly closed
to prevent biting. Often the loser will run into the crowd of spectators causing panic as
onlookers try not to get trampled. Other hazards include splashes of viscous camel spittle.
InTurkey, the spiritual home of camel-wrestling, fights are far more organised -
and high profile. There the camel wrestlers are considered the body builders o
f their species, and they are carefully fed so as to be enormous. The best
specimens are regarded as well-formed martial artists, and they are prized by their owners.
The annual Selcuk championship, named for the western city where the event
takes place, draws roughly 20,000 fight fans. Bizarrely, they also enjoy
eating camel meat while watching the duels.
