Camels don’t spit and they don’t really wrestle.

They slobber a lot, that’s the thing.

When the males are in season they foam at the mouth, so when they lunge out to bite you it seems like they’re spitting, but they’re not. They’re just biting.

Likewise, camels do not ‘wrestle’ in any conventional sense. With all due respect to the guidebooks, the fighting camels of Turkey are not ‘trained in wrestling maneuvers’ so much as they are ‘cranky’ and ‘inclined to sit on each other.’

Put any two rutting males in a ring and they’ll butt chests, lock necks and stomp around for 15 minutes before resting up and stomping around for another 20. Eventually a referee shrugs, they pull the camels apart and the CROWD! GOES! BERSERK!

It’s a tie. Always.

We did finally see a winner in the eigth match. He chased the loser three kilometers back into town.