15 Interesting Facts You didn’t Know about Turkey
By PositiveMed-Team
Edited By Stephanie Dawson
Turkeys have been a part of Western food traditions for a long time and symbolizes Thanksgiving for many. The turkey is an interesting bird and has much to explore. Today turkey meat is served by many fast food giants. As Thanksgiving approaches Positive Med brings you a list of some fun and interesting turkey facts.
1. In the 1930’sdue to over-hunting and decreased forest areas turkeys were on the verge of extinction with only 30,000 left in the world. US government conservation programs saved the birds from extinction and today there are more than 7 million turkeys around the globe.
2. Turkeys have great vision. Studies found they have a wide range of vision. While human beings can see up to 180 degrees at a time, turkeys can see up to 270 degrees at a time, like built-in panoramic vision.
3. Turkeys are fast when it comes to running and flying. They can run 25 miles per hour and fly up to 55 miles per hour.
4. Turkeys have the ability to change the color of their head. When turkeys get excited or get mad their head and neck change color. The more excited a turkey is the whiter its head and neck will be.
5. Turkeys can have up to 4 colors. A turkey’s bald head can change its color up to 4 times to blue, red, white, and pink.
6. Turkeys are one of the world’s oldest life forms. Studies suggest that turkeys have lived in North America for over 10 million years.
7. Turkeys have many feathers over 5-6 thousand. Turkey feathers are the biggest addition to compost heaps in the USA.
8. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of USA, later the bald eagle was selected instead.
9. The average life span of a turkey is 3-5 years. The longest-lived turkey on record lived 13 years. Turkeys selectively bred for meat live only a few months.
10. The turkey we eat for Thanksgiving is considered sacred and holy in some Mexican and South American cultures. The Mayans, Toltecs, and Aztecs used to call turkey ‘Great Xoloti’ and it was considered the jeweled bird.
11. A turkey seems small when we cook it however an adult turkey has over 150 bones which is slightly less than the number of bones in humans.
12. Like human turkeys can die from a heart attack. This was discovered when many turkeys died from shock and noise from jet planes flying overhead.
13. One interesting fact is that turkeys cannot look up during rainstorms, a turkey can even drown from looking up when its raining.
14. There is a dance form made of small and quick steps that mimics turkeys when they walk called the Turkey Trot.
15. Turkeys and peacocks have a similarity, turkeys also expand their colorful feathers and dance to attract the opposite sex.
