The Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner, so let’s have some fun with facts about turkeys
- Native American Indians raised turkeys for food as far back as 1000 A.D.
- The turkey industry sells over $1 billion each year.
- The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed 86 pounds.
- Turkey has more protein than chicken or beef.
- Only the male turkeys gobble. Hens make a clucking noise.
- Turkeys do have heart attacks. When the U.S. Air Force was doing test runs and breaking the sound barrier, turkeys near the area had heart attacks and dropped dead.
- About 75-80 pounds of feed is needed to raise a 30 pound turkey.
- Turkey is lower in cholesterol than beef. The white meat has the lowest levels of fat and cholesterol.
- The first Presidential pardon was ceremoniously given to a turkey in 1947.
- Commercially raised turkeys cannot fly.
- Benjamin Franklin argued that the turkey should be our national bird. He stated that a turkey was more respectable than an eagle.
- Turkeys originally existed in the eastern U.S. and Mexico.
- The average weight of a turkey purchased at Thanksgiving is 15 pounds.
- A 16-week-old turkey is called a fryer. A 5-7 month old turkey is called a young roaster.
- Turkeys have poor night vision.
- A 15 pound turkey normally has about 70 percent white meat and 30 percent dark meet.
- Americans consume over 675 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
