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A Dozen Camels Disqualified From Saudi Beauty Pageant Over Botox Injections
Some pageant contestants hit a hump in the road this week. That is, a camel beauty contest in Saudi Arabia disqualified a dozen camels for receiving Botox injections to make them more attractive.
Saudi media reported that a veterinarian was caught performing plastic surgery on the camels a few days before the pageant, according to UAE's The National. In addition to the injections, the clinic was surgically reducing the size of the animals' ears to make them appear more delicate.
"They use Botox for the lips, the nose, the upper lips, the lower lips and even the jaw," Ali Al Mazrouei, a regular at such festivals and the son of a prominent Emirati breeder, told the newspaper. "It makes the head more inflated so when the camel comes it's like, 'Oh look at how big that head is. It has big lips, a big nose.' "
Real money is at stake: About $57 million is awarded to winners of the contests and camel races, The National reports, with more than $31.8 million in prizes for just the pageants.
Also at The New York Times, Reuters, and Newsweek.
Check out the world's tallest camel
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday January 25 2018, @05:25PM (12 children)
Cats kind of always have had what we wanted from them - being good mousers. Dogs ended up being specifically bread for bird hunting, hog hunting, foxes, badgers, guarding/protecting, herding... Because the thousands of years already got us the breeds we wanted people might think it bad to ruin all that work we did in molding them to our preferences. 10/05/2015EQUIP_10YREQUIP_10YR
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday January 25 2018, @06:58PM (10 children)
Dogs ended up being specifically bread for bird hunting, hog hunting, foxes, badgers, guarding/protecting, herding... Because the thousands of years already got us the breeds we wanted people might think it bad to ruin all that work we did in molding them to our preferences.
How many people these days need an animal to help with bird, hog, fox, or badger hunting, or herding? Virtually none in the US; those things aren't really hunted here (maybe wild turkeys, and a few other birds), mainly it's just deer. City dwellers (most of the population) doesn't do any of that stuff. As for herding, no one needs to do that here; that's useful for sheep, but we don't have sheep here, just cows and chickens. I've never heard of using dogs for herding cows, and chickens are kept caged in industrial facilities these days. As for guarding and protecting, that usually leads to dogs that are aggressive and bite someone wrongly, which leads to a costly lawsuit.
Face it: we don't live the way humans did thousands of years ago. And most people don't have problems with mice either. (I do have a cat that wiped out all the crickets in my basement though.)
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday January 25 2018, @07:35PM (4 children)
What I was trying to get at is that I can't tell the difference between cats, cats to me all look pretty much the same. But I can tell the difference between an irish setter and a german shepard. At this point we don't really have the traditional human needs for a dog, but those differences already exist and humans like different things. It is a whole lot easier to talk about how great your registered dog is certified to never have seizures or one of various other genetic illnesses, than a cat. There are some specific breeds of cats that people are interested in, but they tend to look quite a bit different than your standard stray. I don't know if i have ever known anyone who bought a cat but I know a lot of people who take a cat in that just showed up at their house.
Maybe genetically we have a stronger tie to certain breeds of dogs but I think we definitely have a greater genetic affinity in general to dogs than we do to cats. Dogs we keep around because they are humanity's companion through this shitty world, cats we have around because they hooked us on a parasite two thousand years ago.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday January 25 2018, @08:29PM (3 children)
What I was trying to get at is that I can't tell the difference between cats, cats to me all look pretty much the same.
Maybe that's because you haven't been to any fancy cat shows. If you just go to the pound or the local pet store that has shelter cats up for adoption, yeah, they all look pretty similar: most of them are some variant of American Shorthair, aka "tabby" (I'm assuming you're American here). The differences you'll see will be pretty much superficial, just the hair color and patterns. Some will be black, some calico (female only), some other colors. Maybe you'll see some "tuxedo" cats.
Go to a cat show and you'll see all kinds of other breeds: colorpoints, Siamese, Burmese, Ocicats, Maine Coon cats (they're really huge), etc.
The reason you think they're all the same is because most people, as I said before, don't have fancy breeds, they just have shelter cats, and they're all "mutts" that are considered to be part of the "American shorthair" "breed", because that's what's dominant and typical in North America. This just isn't the case for dogs, where people usually get them from pet stores, which get them from breeders, who work to keep the bloodlines "pure" and controlled. That's the point I was making.
but those differences already exist and humans like different things.
Sure, but then why is it that dog owners care so much about what breed their dog is, and will actively try to get a dog with a certain breed, whereas cat owners are happy to just adopt a cat as long as it acts nice at the adoption center, and don't worry too much about what it looks like?
It is a whole lot easier to talk about how great your registered dog is certified to never have seizures or one of various other genetic illnesses, than a cat.
Right, because typical "mutt" cats don't have these problems usually. In fact, they typically live longer than most dogs, especially purebred dogs which seem to die around 12yo. A plain ol' cat can easily live past 15 or even 20.
There are some specific breeds of cats that people are interested in, but they tend to look quite a bit different than your standard stray.
Exactly what I was getting at. Not a lot of cat owners have these cats.
I don't know if i have ever known anyone who bought a cat but I know a lot of people who take a cat in that just showed up at their house.
Again, exactly my point!!! I've known tons of people with cats, but very few had some fancy purebred cat. My sister is really the only one offhand I can think of who has purebreds. Everyone else just adopted something from the shelter, including myself, and I've had cats that just showed up too. How many dog owners do that? None.
Maybe genetically we have a stronger tie to certain breeds of dogs but I think we definitely have a greater genetic affinity in general to dogs than we do to cats.
Sounds plausible, but I don't think so.
I think it's because dog people and cat people are fundamentally different types of people. Dog people are pretentious and vain and like to show off their fancy, prized possession, similar to people who buy exotic cars (except that exotic cars don't require constant live-in maintenance, you can just park them in the garage), whereas cat people just want some friendly company at home and aren't that picky about exactly what their furry friend looks like, and don't want a pet that needs an inordinate amount of maintenance.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday January 25 2018, @08:53PM (2 children)
Such defensiveness, maybe you should get that Toxoplasma gondii checked.
From wikipedia
From the huffington post - https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/07/cats-facts-jerks_n_4520552.html [huffingtonpost.com]
Cats - Not once ever.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D [wikipedia.org]
You may like having an owner, I like having a best friend
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday January 25 2018, @09:03PM
You like having a pet that attacks other animals? From the Wikipedia page for Akitas
"Akitas tend to be less tolerant of dogs of the same sex. For this reason, Akitas, unless highly socialized, are not generally well-suited for off-leash dog parks." Also, "An akita fatally injured an Arizona woman who was trying to rehabilitate it."
Sounds like an animal that has no business in an urban setting.
As for parasites, that's something you have to worry about with any animal if you don't practice proper hygiene. Dogs have worms.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday January 26 2018, @01:07AM
Dogs aren't best friends, they're loyal, almost worshipful slaves. I loved dogs as a kid, but as I matured I found the relationship increasingly disturbing.
Cats can certainly be the opposite, and most will indeed make you their servants if you let them - but nothing says you have to let them. Set down reasonable boundaries, stick to them, and you can have a rewarding relationship with an animal that genuinely enjoys your company (and/or the comforts you provide) rather than being genetically programmed to adore you no matter what.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday January 25 2018, @09:48PM
It's also illegal to use dogs for hunting in (most of?) the US, except for some pointer type stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 26 2018, @12:29AM
> Face it: we don't live the way humans did thousands of years ago.
Hi - Try tens of years ago, not "thousands".
And yes, that's very little time. Dogs are bred because they get along with us better than cats, and are stronger than cats.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday January 26 2018, @07:37PM (2 children)
'Round here, working dogs routinely herd cattle, sheep, occasionally chickens, and, I've even heard tell, children.
But then you get the idjits who take perfectly good working dogs and, instead of training them and allowing them to do the work they were bred for (or a reasonable substitution), they tie the poor beasts up, confine them to small yards, or worse yet, let them run loose.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday January 26 2018, @08:54PM (1 child)
My parents have two Irish Setters, when my kids were younger they liked to herd them around. When the dogs were younger we took them out to a large farm to run and play, they had fun trying to herd cows and sheep. Cows with no success, but sheep with moderate.. It was interesting seeing how they picked it up without ever having watched another dog do it.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Tuesday January 30 2018, @05:45PM
Yes--some breeds of dog were literally bred to herd, just as some are bred to be ratters, trackers, pack hunters, etc.
On herding cattle: I understand (through indirect observation and anecdote, rather than personal experience, so I may be wrong, here) that cow-herding dogs tend to be more aggressive types than are needed to control sheep.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday January 26 2018, @07:43PM
--Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories