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Turkeys can
drown if they look up when it is raining.
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They can also have
heart attacks; when the Air Force was conducting tests that broke the
sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
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Only male turkeys
(toms) gobble; females (hens) make a clicking noise. Hens are
attracted for mating when a tom gobbles.
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Domestic turkeys
cannot fly. Wild turkeys can fly for short distances at up to 55 mph.
Wild turkeys can also run at speeds of up to 25 mph.
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Mature turkeys have
3,500 or so feathers.
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Turkeys sometimes
spend the night in trees.
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Turkeys have
excellent hearing, a poor sense of smell, but a keen sense of taste.
They also have exceptionally keen eyesight and see in color. They
have excellent visual acuity and a wide field of vision (about 270
degrees), making it extremely difficult for any creature to approach
without being detected. However, their night vision and depth
perception are poor. |
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Turkeys originated
in North and Central America; fossil evidence indicates that they
have been around for over 10 million years.
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Ben Franklin lobbied
extensively for the turkey to be named the national bird but the bald
eagle won the honor. Referring to the eagle’s "bad moral character",
Ben noted, "The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a
true original native of America."
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The Guinness Book of
Records states that the greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey
is 39.09 kg (86 lb.) at the last annual "heaviest turkey" competition
held in London, England on December 12, 1989.
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When U.S. astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin sat down to eat their first meal on
the moon on their historic 1969 voyage, their foil food packets
contained roast turkey and all the trimmings.
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Ninety percent of
American homes eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Fifty percent eat
turkey on Christmas. More than 45 million turkeys are cooked
and eaten during Thanksgiving. |
9-11-01