Here are some Thanksgiving turkey trivia
- The red or pink fleshy growth on the head and upper neck of the turkey is called ‘caruncle’.
- The bright red appendage on the neck of the turkey is called ‘wattle’.
- The black lock of hair found on the chest of the male turkey is called ‘beard’.
- Frozen, fully stuffed turkeys, ready to cook, were introduced in 1955.
- Long before the Europeans came to America it were the Aztecs who used to domesticate turkeys to use them as food. They also used turkeys for religious sacrifices and their feathers for decoration.
- The turkey was considered a sacrificial bird in Mexico.
- Turkey is the state game bird of Alabama.
- The Wild Turkey is the official state bird of Oklahoma.
- The Wild Turkey was designated the state game bird of Massachusetts on December 23, 1991.
- Turkey eggs are tan with brown specks.
- Domesticated turkey hens that are artificially inseminated, lay around 80 to 100 eggs during a 25 week laying cycle and each egg takes 28 days to hatch.
- The typical 15-pound turkey is seventy percent white meat and thirty percent dark meat. White meat contains less calories and less fat as compared to dark meat.
- When Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin went on the moon, they took ‘roasted turkey’ and all the trimmings with them.
- In 2000 the total turkey production in the United States was 269,969,000 turkeys.
- In 2002 the total turkey production in the United States was 270 million turkeys.
- In 2004 the total turkey production in the United States was 263 million turkeys.
- Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
- Benjamin Franklin called the turkey ‘a true original native of America’.
- Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the official bird of the United States but eventually lost out to the bald eagle.