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10 fascinating facts about your Thanksgiving turkey
Wow your guests with these tasty tidbits
It’s time to talk turkey.
With Thanksgiving coming around the corner, here are 10 fun facts about the animal everyone associates with the holiday:
1. Their poop can tell you a lot.
You can see the difference between female and male turkeys in their poop. Female turkeys look like a spiral, and male turkeys look like the letter “J,” according to the National Audubon Society.
2. Turkeys are named after the country Turkey.
People wave Turkish flags as they watch a parade during the celebration of Turkey's Republic Day in Istanbul, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. Turkey is celebrating the 98th anniversary of modern Turkish Republic founded by Ataturk. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
The American bird is named after a country all the way in Europe, according to NPR, although the exact naming process isn’t quite clear.
3. Turkeys are fast animals.
They can reach 25 miles per hour while running — the same speed cars can go in a school zone — and 55 miles per hour while flying, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
4. Benjamin Franklin was a big fan of turkeys.
The likeness of Benjamin Franklin on $100 bills. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
While he wrote to his daughter that the bald eagle “is a bird of bad moral character,” per the Franklin Institute, he viewed turkeys as “a much more respectable bird” that “would not hesitate to attack” a British soldier. There is no evidence of him proposing it as the national bird, though, contrary to a popular myth.
5. What an egg-cellent bird.
Female turkeys lay 11 eggs on average during their nesting season, per the Iowa DNR.
6. Turkeys live almost everywhere in the United States.
FILE — In this Feb. 9, 2009, file photo, wild turkeys walk through a snowy farm yard in Williamstown, Vt. Nearly a half-century earlier, the wild birds that have come to symbolize Thanksgiving in the United States, were almost gone from the Vermont countryside. In 2016, they number in the tens of thousands … a success story of wildlife restoration. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)
Wild turkeys live in almost every state. Alaska is the only place without wild turkeys, according to a 2013 article from Live Science.
7. Turkeys have better vision than you.
Do you think you have pretty good vision? Turkeys have even better eyes. They can see three times better than a human with perfect 20/20 vision, according to the National Audubon Society.
8. Some U.S. presidents have “pardoned” turkeys.
Ivanka Trump, Assistant to the President, third from right, White House adviser Jared Kushner, center, their daughter Arabella Kushner, second from right, and son Theodore Kushner, left, gather around Corn, the national Thanksgiving turkey, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, in Washington. President Donald Trump pardoned Corn during the event. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President George H.W. Bush was the first U.S. president to officially pardon a turkey, according to the White House archives. One rumor says Abraham Lincoln was the first to pardon a turkey after his son begged him to do so, though.
9. Don’t mess with turkeys.
You probably don’t want to mess with a turkey in the wild. The animal has been known to show “aggressive behavior” toward people and may even peck at their own reflections on cars or windows, according to the Massachusetts Division of Wildlife and Fisheries.
10. Americans eat a lot of turkey this time of year.
Brandon Achen at turkey processor West Liberty Foods says that larger domestic availability for pork is creating competition for turkey processors across the country and driving down prices for the birds. (The Gazette)
In the U.S. alone, about 46 million turkeys are served on Thanksgiving, according to an article from Good Housekeeping. Iowans especially love to eat turkey with some green bean casserole, according to an analysis of American’s favorite Thanksgiving sides.
Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com
Turkeys are shown in a pen at Root Down Farm in Pescadero, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
People wave Turkish flags as they watch a parade during the celebration of Turkey's Republic Day in Istanbul, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. Turkey is celebrating the 98th anniversary of modern Turkish Republic founded by Ataturk. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
The likeness of Benjamin Franklin on $100 bills. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
Wild turkeys walk through a snowy farm yard in Williamstown, Vt. Nearly a half-century earlier, the wild birds were almost gone from the Vermont countryside. In 2016, they numbered in the tens of thousands — a success story of wildlife restoration. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)
Ivanka Trump, Assistant to the President, third from right, White House adviser Jared Kushner, center, their daughter Arabella Kushner, second from right, and son Theodore Kushner, left, gather around Corn, the national Thanksgiving turkey, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, in Washington. President Donald Trump pardoned Corn during the event. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Brandon Achen at turkey processor West Liberty Foods says that larger domestic availability for pork is creating competition for turkey processors across the country and driving down prices for the birds. (The Gazette)
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