*Not the camel purchased. This is Joe Camel, selling cancer sticks to the kiddies!

Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (wow, what a name!) recently paid $2.7 million dollars for one female camel. They have become a mark of prestige in the Persian Gulf, but a sum of nearly $3 million is unprecedented. The camel was bought during a desert festival, in which there was a camel beauty contest and other exciting camel related events. Apparently female camels are treasured as “racing” camels, and maybe this camel will help the crown prince’s racing team over the “hump” on their way to victory!

The beauty contest for camels judged them on their superficial qualities, not the inner beauty of the camels (like most human pageants, really). Camels with only some good features could still win contests, as separate categories included best neck, head, lips, nose, hump, legs or feet. Our question: what makes a good camel “hump” or camel neck? Lots of hair, little hair, no weird spots? The contest featured over 17,000 camels, so we don’t want to imagine the sights, sounds, and smells. Mainly the smells, that’s a lot of camels and we assume they didn’t all carry plastic bags and little shovels. Really don’t want to imagine the smells. Millions of dollars in prize money was handed out to winners, and over 100 vehicles.

Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum actually bought a total of 16 camels, costing him $4.5 million. But the crown beauty of that purchase was truly the $2.7 million female camel. Wonder what he’ll name her. I know I’d name my pet camel Camella, because that name just seems “fitting” for some reason… and I have no idea why.

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