Another myth goes bang

Jan 18, 2011 11:46


I don't know how widespread this one is? it's the one about Bedouin putting pebbles in the wombs of female camels to prevent them getting pregnant on caravan duty.

Apparently not.
When Arab gynaecologists hear this story at European conferences, they normally respond with a simple, short question: “Have you ever tried to put a stone in a camel’s uterus?”

Possibly to be filed in the same waste-bin as Inuit words for snow (alleged vast number of)?

ETA I have subsequently come across what appear to be reliable articles indicating that 'the story was a tall tale told to entertain delegates at a scientific conference on family planning, but it was repeated so many times that many people have assumed it is true'. And there doesn't seem to be any evidence that the early C20th pioneers of IUDs took their inspiration from camel husbandry.

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myths, preconceptions, animals, contraception, exotic

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