Twelve camels have been disqualified from Saudi Arabia's annual camel beauty contest because their owners resorted to giving them botox injections.

The judges look at many traits in the beasts, including the size of the lips, and some owners have been tempted to use botox to give their camels a fuller pout.

The month-long festival attracts tens of thousands of participants, with millions of dollars in prize money at stake.

Organisers of the month-long annual camel festival aim to reflect traditional aspects of Saudi cultural heritage.

And for the Bedouin of Arabia, nothing is more essential than the camel, used for centuries for food, transport, as a war machine and as a companion.

Judges look at many traits in the camels, including the size of the lips. ( Reuters: Faisal Nasser )

Chairman of the King Abdulaziz Foundation Fahd al-Semmari said the contest aimed to highlight the camel's importance.

"The goal is to give citizens, residents and visitors from outside the kingdom the opportunity to see something new [which is] the camel as culture, heritage and sport," he said.

Events at the festival include races and show competitions with combined purses of 213 million riyals ($70.3 million).

The pavilion features an auction where top camels can fetch millions of riyals.

There are food stalls and souvenir shops, a petting zoo featuring the world's tallest and shortest camels, a museum with life-size sand sculptures of camels, tents for tasting camel's milk and viewing camel-hair textiles, and a planetarium showing how Arabs rode camels through the desert guided by the stars.

The festival is named after King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia who united the kingdom through military conquest, often on the back of camels.

ABC/Reuters