"Turkey Day" Trivia

Want to wow your guests at the Thanksgiving dinner table with your incredible knowledge of turkey trivia?  Check out these "Turkey Day" facts! 

• Most farm raised turkeys are White Hollands. They cannot fly.
• An adult turkey has about 3500 feathers. Big Bird’s costume (from Sesame Street) was made from nearly 4000 white turkey feathers, dyed yellow.
• Wild turkeys can glide almost a mile without flapping their wings. Over short distances, they can fly 55 mph and run 20 mph.
• Acorns are the wild turkeys’ favorite food. Because they have a poor sense of taste and smell, they choose acorns by size and shape.
• A turkey’s head will change colors when it’s excited.
• Wild turkeys spend the night in trees.
• A male turkey is called a tom, the female is called a hen and the babies, poults. Immature turkeys are called jake (male) and jenny (female).
• How to tell toms from hens:
• Toms are larger, have longer legs and bigger heads. Their wattle (growth under the chin) and snood (fleshy growth over the bill) are also longer.
• Toms grow a beard – long black feathers on their chest. The beard grows about 4 inches per year and keeps growing throughout their lifetime. Eventually, it drags the ground.
• Male turkeys gobble and females make a clucking sound.
• During mating season, a male turkey gobbles loudly and struts around, puffing out his chest, fanning his large tail and dragging his wingtips on the ground. 
• As male turkeys get older, they fight a lot and may attack humans. 
• About 180,000 wild turkeys live in Virginia, most of them in the Tidewater, South Mountain and South Piedmont regions. 

Turkey history -

• Wild turkeys are native to the eastern US and northern Mexico.  They have lived in North America for almost 10 million years. 
• Wild turkeys were domesticated in Mexico and introduced in Europe in the 16th century. 
• In the 1700s, turkeys were walked to market and wore booties to protect their feet. 
• Ben Franklin thought the wild turkey should be our national bird instead of the bald eagle. 
• Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ate turkey for their first meal on the moon. 
• Wild turkeys almost became extinct in the early 1900s because of habitat destruction and overhunting. 
• The Turkey Trot was a ballroom dance popular in the early 1900s. The Turkey Trot 10K is a race run every Thanksgiving in Richmond.

Thanksgiving turkey facts –

• Over 45 million turkeys are eaten every Thanksgiving.
• The average American eats 17.5 pounds of turkey per year.
• US turkey production has increased over 300% since 1970.
• Turkey meat is low in fat and high in protein.
• White meat has fewer calories than dark meat.