Thanksgiving Fun Facts

Let's talk turkey!

Americans feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving.


According the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the United States at Thanksgiving. That number represents one sixth of all the turkeys sold in the U.S. each year!


Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird.


Domesticated turkeys cannot fly, however wild turkeys can fly up to 55 miles per hour over short distances.


Only male (tom) turkeys gobble. Females make a clicking noise. The famous gobble is actually a seasonal mating call.


The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed in at 86 pounds – about the size of a German Shepherd! (But turkeys are normally not used as police animals.)


A turkey under 16 weeks of age is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a roaster.


The Turkey Trot, a ballroom dance in the 1900s, was named for the short, jerky steps of the turkey. It became popular mainly because it was denounced by the Vatican as "suggestive."


Turkeys are known to spend the night in trees! (Maybe to escape the Thanksgiving table?)


Turkeys can drown if they look up when it's raining!


A turkey's field of vision is 270 degrees--one of the main reasons they're able to elude some hunters.


The average age of the Mayflower passenger was 32. The oldest Mayflower passenger was 64.


There was no milk, cheese, bread, butter or pumpkin pie at the original Thanksgiving Day feast.


Contrary to popular belief, the Pilgrims did not have big buckles on their clothing, shoes, or hats.


Buckles did not come into fashion until the late 1600s – more appropriate for the Salem Witchcraft trial time period.


The cranberry got its name because the pale pink blossoms on the plant resembled a crane’s head and neck. The name craneberry stuck, eventually becoming cranberry.


Fresh cranberries are ideal for cranberry sauce. Cranberries of the highest quality will always bounce! (If you try this at home, please wash the cranberries before eating.)


President Abraham Lincoln established the original date for our National Thanksgiving Day celebration in 1863.


President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of establishing a national “Thanksgiving Day.”


Congress did not declare Thanksgiving a national holiday until 1941.


The average person consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day. (Now that's a lot of turkey!)

lollolLol

Love un Lisa

interesting isn't it, I never knew this I thought they all could fly, wings and they fly lol lol lol

lol me to Peggy :)

Just when we thought we knew it all Lisa Hun lol lol

lol lol I know

:) this happens a lot ya think lol

Here turkey, turkey, turkey

Turkeys are able to adapt to a wide variety of habitats. However, most turkeys are found in hardwood forests with grassy areas.
The best time to see a turkey is on a warm clear day or in a light rain.
They what?

Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining.
Eat, sleep, gobble

Turkeys spend the night in trees. They fly to their roosts around sunset.
Turkeys fly to the ground at first light and feed until mid-morning. Feeding resumes in mid-afternoon.
Gobbling starts before sunrise and can continue through most of the morning.
Eyes in the backs of their heads?

A wild turkey has excellent vision and hearing. Their field of vision is about 270 degrees. This is the main reason they continue to elude some hunters.
And they're fast, too!

A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds.
So close, yet so far

Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey.

-thumbs- Thats funny :)

lol Can you just see a turkey as a police patrol animal

lol I know Joan :)

awesome thanks hun

Thanks, Lisa!