· Ben Franklin, in a letter to his daughter, proposed the turkey as the official United States bird.
· In 2000, the average American ate 17.75 pounds of turkey.
· The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog.
· A 15 pound turkey usually has about 70 percent white meat and 30 percent dark meat.
· The wild turkey is native to Northern Mexico and the Eastern United States.
· The male turkey is called a tom.
· The female turkey is called a hen.
· The turkey was domesticated in Mexico and brought to Europe in the 16th century.
· Wild turkeys can fly for short distances up to 55 miles per hour.
· Wild turkeys can run 20 miles per hour.
· Tom turkeys have beards. This is black, hairlike feathers on their breast. Hens sometimes have beards, too.
· Turkeys' heads change colors when they become excited.
· Six hundred seventy-five million pounds of turkey are eaten each Thanksgiving in the United States.
· Turkeys can see movement almost a hundred yards away.
· Turkeys lived almost ten million years ago.
· Turkey feathers were used by Native Americans to stabilize arrows.
· Baby turkeys are called poults and are tan and brown.
· Most of the turkeys raised for commercial production are White Hollands.
· Turkey eggs are tan with brown specks and are larger than chicken eggs.

· It takes 75-80 pounds of feed to raise a 30 pound tom turkey.
· Forty-five million turkeys are eaten each Thanksgiving.
· Twenty-two million turkeys are eaten each Christmas.
· Nineteen million turkeys are eaten each Easter.
· Male turkeys gobble. Hens do not. They make a clicking noise.
· Gobbling turkeys can be heard a mile away on a quiet day.
· Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia and Missouri are the leading producers of turkey in 2001.
· 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.
· The ballroom dance the "turkey trot" was named for the short, jerky steps that turkeys take.
· Turkeys don't really have ears like ours, but they have very good hearing.
· Turkeys can see in color.
· A large group of turkeys is called a flock.
· Turkeys do not see well at night.
· 2.74 billion pounds of turkey were processed in the United States in 1994.
· A domesticated male turkey can reach a weight of 30 pounds within 18 weeks after hatching.
· Turkeys are related to pheasants.
· Commercially raised turkeys cannot fly.
· Turkeys have heart attacks. The United States Air Force was doing test runs and breaking the sound barrier. Nearby turkeys dropped dead with heart attacks.