22/ A Caruncle is the brightly colored growths on the throat region of a trukey. It turns bright red when the turkey is upset or during courtship.

23/ Turkeys lived in North America almost ten million years ago.

24/ Adult turkeys can have 3,500 feathers. Most turkey feathers are composted. Feathers are spread out on fields, then plowed under in the spring. The feathers decompose and fertilize the soil.

25/ Big Bird (from Sesame Street) is dressed in a costume of turkey feathers. His costume is made of nearly 4,000 white turkey feathers (dyed yellow).

26/ Turkeys can see movement almost a hundred yards away.

27/ Turkey eggs are light tan with brown specks and are larger than chicken eggs. A turkey egg weighs from 80 grams to 100 grams (3 to 4 ounces).

28/ A ballroom dance called the "turkey trot" was popular in the early 1900s. The dance was named for the short, jerky steps that turkeys take. Couples danced around in circles bobbing their heads like strutting turkeys.

29/ Turkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere.

30/ Turkeys have great hearing, but no external ears. They can also see in colour, and have excellent visual acuity and a wide field of vision (about 270 degrees), which makes sneaking up on them difficult. However, turkeys have a poor sense of smell but an excellent sense of taste.

31/ Turkeys also have heart attacks. Turkeys in fields near the Air Force test areas over which the sound barrier was broken were known to drop dead from the shock of passing jets.

32/ The American Indians hunted wild turkey for its sweet, juicy meat as early as 1000 AD. Turkey feathers were used to stabilize arrows and adorn ceremonial dress, and the spurs on the legs of wild tom turkeys were used as projectiles on arrowheads.

33/ In 2000, the average American ate 17.75 pounds of turkey.

34/ A 16 week old turkey is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a young roaster and a yearling is a year old. Any turkey 15 months or older is called mature. (Any that live longer then that are just called lucky!)

35/ The five most popular ways to serve leftover turkey is as a sandwich, stew or soup, salad, casserole and stir-fry.

36/ For their first meal on the moon, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin ate roast turkey in foil packets.

37/ Israelis eat the most turkeys.....28 pounds per person.

38/ The gizzard (part of the stomach) contains tiny stones which aid digestion.

39/ A 15-pound turkey typically has about 70 percent white meat and 30 percent dark meat.

40/ The two types of meat differ nutritionally. White meat has fewer calories and less fat than dark meat.

And one more for luck...

2001 Highest Per Capita consumption of turkey:
Israel 28.8 pounds
United States 17.5 pounds
France 14.5 pounds
Italy 12.3 pounds
Germany 11 pounds
United Kingdom 9.3 pounds
Canada 9.3 pounds.

See you on the 17th September!!

Copyright - Stuart Brown