- From fashionable ducks to cricket wrestling, there sure are odd contests for animals out there.
Everybody loves a good competition. But it’s not just people who get in on the thrill of a contest.
Many animal competitions take place around the globe every year. Usually it’s about people pitting their pets or livestock against each other, but animals can sometime get genuinely competitive themselves too.
Here are six unusual but entertaining animal competitions. We tried to showcase events that don’t harm the participating animals.
1. World Dog Surfing Championships
The World Dog Surfing Championships takes place every year somewhere along California’s coast. The competition delivers exactly what it promises — pups riding waves atop tiny surfboards.
Of course, they will need some help. The dog’s owner or trainer will help the life vest-wearing pup get on the board and surf down small waves.
The first dog surfing competition was held in 2006. It was intended to be a one-off event, but it proved so ridiculously popular that it grew into the annual world championships.
Today, dog surfing contests take place pretty anywhere where there are good waves. In addition to the world championships in California, there are other competitions in Florida, Australia, and the U.K.
2. Rabbit Show Jumping
You’ve heard of horse show jumping, but horses aren’t exactly famous jumpers. Rabbits on the other, hop like no other, and that’s what’s on display at rabbit show jumping competitions.
Also known as rabbit agility, rabbit show jumping originated in Sweden and has since spread to elsewhere in Europe. Really, it’s kind of odd that no one came up with this earlier, considering rabbits and jumping are a natural pairing.
A rabbit agility course features various obstacles for the bunny to jump over, much like a horse show jumping course. While staying in a harness and on a leash, the rabbit races through the track, trying to do it as fast and fabulously as possible.
Here’s hoping the American Hopping Association can bring this adorable sport stateside as well.
3. King Abdulaziz Camel Festival
Camels are important animals in the Middle East, and the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, organized annually in Saudi Arabia, celebrates all things camel. One of the most popular events of the 40-day festival is its famous camel beauty contest.
Camel owners dolly their beasts up and march them to the festival by their hundreds. Professional judges inspect them for desirable traits, such as delicate ears, full and plump lips, and ideally shaped heads and necks.
This is no small competition either. The total price pool handed out every year across several categories sits at dozens of millions of dollars.
With such big bucks in the game, it’s sadly common to see cheating in the beauty contest. Among other things, dishonest camel owners have been caught giving their animals Botox injections.
4. Windorah International Yabby Races
What’s a yabby? That’s an Australian name for the local crayfish that compete every year in the Windorah International Yabby Races.
This race doesn’t feature a traditional course, though. Instead, the proving grounds consists of two concentric circles.
To get the race going, 10 yabbies are placed in the smaller circle in the middle. The winner is whichever crayfish first sticks one of its claws outside the larger circle.
There’s no betting on the races, but each yabby is auctioned off after the race to raise fund for charitable causes (usually cancer foundations). It’s up to the crustacean’s new owner, then, to either celebrate or cook their yabby, probably based on its race performance.
5. Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee
The Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee, or the Frog Jump, is part of the Californian county’s annual local fair. In this competition, the participants aim to find out whose croaker jumps the farthest.
The owner must coax their frog to jump as far as it can. Of course, the frog is allowed to warm up, and only its third jump is measured.
After a successful jump, the owner is required by the official rules to give the frog a big smooch to congratulate it for a job well done.
If you’d like to take part in the competition but don’t own your own jumping frog, you can rent one at the venue. This bizarre and fun competition pays homage to the writer Mark Twain, who often reminisced about the frog jumping contests he staged between his buddies in his youth.
6. Pied Piper Duck Show
Move over, Paris and Milan. To find real fashion, you must head to the Pied Piper Duck Show in Sydney, Australia.
In this quirky fashion show, duck owners dress their fowl in the finest haute couture and march them down the catwalk (or duckwalk). And the fashion really is fine.
Most of the ducks don outfits inspired by Victorian era outfits from the 1800s. So, it’s frilly gown and dresses galore, with fabulous hats to match.
The Pied Piper Duck Show has been organized for more than 30 years. In addition to the fashion show, the events include duck races and other quacking activities.
7. National Cricket Fighting Championships
Two crickets enter — one cricket leaves. The National Cricket Fighting Championships are organized each year in Beijing by the China Association for Cricket Fighting.
Unlike many other animal bloodsports, however, cricket fighting very rarely results in any injuries to the insects. Each bout is less of a fight and more of a nudging match accompanied by furious chirping.
The match ends when one of the bugs submits and stops making noise or simply jumps out of the ring. Winning crickets (and their owners) receive prices counted in thousands of dollars.
Cricket fighting is a very old sport in China, with court records showing that it entertained Chinese emperors already more than 1,000 years ago. The best fighting crickets from Shandong in China’s northeast can carry price tags of upward of $2,500.