Turkey Trivia.....

Turkeys originated in North and Central America.

Usually the turkeys are found in hardwood forests with grassy areas but they are capable of adapting themselves to different habitats.

Turkeys spend the night in trees.

You can easily see a turkey on a warm clear day or during light rain. Turkeys fly to the ground at first light and feed until mid-morning. Feeding resumes in mid-afternoon.

Turkeys start gobbling before sunrise and generally continue through most of the morning.

The field of vision of wild turkey is so good that it is about 270 degrees. The wild turkey has excellent hearing.

A spooked turkey can run at speed up to 20 miles per hour.

A wild turkey can run at speed of up to 25 miles per hour.

A wild turkey can fly for short distances at up to 55 miles per hour. Domesticated turkeys or the farm-raised turkeys cannot fly.

Turkeys were one of the first birds to be domesticated in the America. The male turkeys are called 'tom', the female turkeys are called 'hen' and the baby turkeys are called 'poult'.

The male turkeys gobble whereas female turkeys make a clicking noise. The male turkeys gobble to attract the female turkeys for mating.

The gobble is a seasonal call made during the spring and fall.

A mature turkey generally has around 3,500 feathers.

The Apache Indians considered the turkey timid and wouldn't eat it or use its feathers on their arrows.

According to an estimate, during the Thanksgiving holiday more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and around 525 million pounds of turkey is eaten.

About ninety-five percent of American families eat turkey on the Thanksgiving Day whereas fifty percent eat turkey on Christmas holiday. Almost fifty percent of Americans eat turkey at least once every 2 weeks. According to the National Turkey Federation about twenty-four percent of Americans purchase fresh turkeys for Thanksgiving and seventy percent purchase frozen turkeys.

North Carolina is the number one producer of turkeys. It produces around 61 million turkeys per year.

Minnesota and Arkansas are second and third number producers of turkey.

The part of the turkey that is used in a good luck ritual is known as the 'wishbone'.

The red fleshy growth from the base of the beak that hangs down over the beak is called 'snood'.

It is very long on male turkeys.