As if a beauty contest for camels wasn’t enough, botoxing the camels so that their lips look pouted was indeed the need of the hour.

And no prizes for guessing where this contest is held. Of course, it had to be Saudi Arabia.

Saudis take this contest very seriously. Every year it’s held once a year where the camels walk and strut and show off their faces to win the 1M riyals ( roughly about $400,000)

There are rules to be followed, defiance of which results in serious consequences.

And with every contest, this too is filled with the drama. People cheat, lie and the camels go through plastic surgery and Botox injections. Plastic surgery is usually done to decrease the size of their large ears and Botox to keep the wrinkles at bay.

Launched in 2000, the contest was held in a desert, one and a half hour from the capital, Riyadh. This competition is only open to purebred female camels that are saudis. No international camels are allowed. Roughly, about a 100 camels participate every year.

While the rest of the world may find this weird and anecdotal, the Saudis are known to have revered the camel since time immemorial. There are almost hundred words only for a camel in their lexicon.