10 Fun facts about turkeys

In my family, the so-called "turkey expert" is the person who gets to carve the roasted bird, and the rest of us are only concerned with choosing dark or white meat. But here are a few tidbits about turkeys that could make you the conversation expert between forkfuls.

1. For instance, did you know that you can tell the mental state of a turkey by the color of its head and neck? When a turkey gets mad, excited, or defensive, its head and neck turns white. The more extreme the emotion, the whiter the color.
2. Turkeys can see in color, but have poor night vision. They can see movement almost a-hundred yards away and also have a wide field of vision, which makes sneaking up on them difficult. Good luck trying to catch a wild turkey. They can run at speeds of up to 25 miles-per-hour, and fly for short distances at up to 55 miles-per-hour. Wild turkeys spend the night in trees, and are particularly fond of oak trees.
3. Hens are typically sold whole, while toms are further processed into cutlets and deli meats.
4. Even if you can't see them, you can probably hear them. The wild turkey can make at least 30 different calls. In the spring, the adult male makes a call known as a gobble to attract females. Humans can hear gobbles from a mile away. Hens don't gobble; they make a clicking noise.
5. Around 46 million turkeys are consumed every Thanksgiving.
6. If Benjamin Franklin would have had his way, you'd be eating our national bird. The Smithsonian says Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter, praising the turkey as a much more respectable bird than the bald eagle. He wrote, "For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."
7. Mature turkeys have 3,500 feathers.
8. Toms typically take 18 weeks to reach maturity and weigh 38 pounds.
9. On average, it takes 75-80 pounds of feed to raise a 38-pound tom turkey.
10. Minnesota is ranked No. 1 in U.S. turkey production, raising more than 40 million turkeys each year.