AP PHOTOS: Bejeweled camels wrestle for victory in Turkey

Some 160 camels take part in the largest of Turkey's camel-wrestling festivals as thousands of people cheer them

SELCUK, Turkey -- Black-eyed Nirvana and Mr. Isa, two male camels from the western Aydin province of Turkey and wearing colorful saddles, circled the grounds with their owners and then wrestled fiercely as thousands cheered.

They were competing as part of 80 pairs or 160 camels in the Efes Selcuk Camel Wrestling Festival, the biggest and most prestigious festival of its kind, which celebrated its 40th run Sunday. The wrestling grounds is a few miles away from Ephesus, the site of ancient Greek ruins. Smaller festivals are held across Turkey’s Aegean and Mediterranean provinces.

The games take place during the camels’ mating season. Because the males are more aggressive during this time, especially when they are withheld from mating, they are primed to fight.

The score system is complicated for outsiders but a camel who gets its opponent to scream, flee, fall or push its embroidered saddle to the ground wins.