TURKEY TALK

Every year on Thanksgiving, the president of the United States pardons a turkey. The tradition dates back to the time of President Abraham Lincoln, whose youngest son, Tad, kept turkeys as pets.

Turkeys are the only poultry native to the Western Hemisphere.

A turkey can drown if it looks up when it rains. Another medical oddity of the turkey — it can die of fright. Turkeys near Air Force test areas apparently had heart attacks when the sound barrier was broken overhead.

Turkeys can run up to 20 mph sustained. They can also reportedly reach speeds of 50 miles per hour in short bursts.

Three towns in the United States are named after our fine feathered friend. The largest is Turkey, Texas, which weighed in with a population of 300 in 2020. There are eight towns or townships that incorporate the word cranberry (or some variation thereof ) into their name; Cranbury, New Jersey, and Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, being two examples.

Wild turkeys have excellent vision — about a 270-degree field of vision compared with the human’s 200 degrees — and they can see in color. They have no external ears, but have impeccable hearing.

There once was a ballroom dance known as the Turkey Trot.

The greatest producers of turkey by state are: Minnesota (estimated 40.5 million in 2001), followed closely by North Carolina (30 million), then Arkansas (27 million), Indiana (20.5 million), Missouri (17 million), Virginia (14.5 million), Iowa (11.7 million) and California (6 million). Together, an estimated 216.5 million turkeys were raised in 2021.