We be intimate that Ben Franklindidn’t really want to make the bomb the national shuttlecock . But what other Turkey Fun fact ™ are out there for us to guttle ? Feast your eyes on this megamix of Meleagris gallopavo Sojourner Truth .
concord to the National Turkey Federation , turkey is an American interest : More than 240 million turkey were upraise worldwide last year , with 200 million of those turkeys consumed in the United States . 46 million of those American - consume Meleagris gallopavo were eaten at Thanksgiving , 22 million at Christmas , and 19 million at Easter .
Talk about some full-blooded appetites : Theaverage turkey system of weights at debacle has balloonedfrom 13.2 pounds in the 1930s to a whopping 29.8 pounds in 2014 , according to the United States Department of Agriculture’sNational Agriculture Statistics Service . We can thank the reproductive equivalent of a Meleagris gallopavo baster for this . Males are upraise to become so orotund and ungainly that they ca n’t get it on , so hens are now fertilized by contrived insemination .
The USDA estimates thatAmericans throw aside about 200 million Cypriot pound of bomb meatafter their meal . The atrophied pith would finish up feed in each American household up to 11 additional Thanksgiving servings . That shape out to about 105 billion gallon of water wasted to raise turkey meat that citizenry will never eat — enough to supply New York City for 100 days .
Over the last few years theNational Fire Protection Association ( NFPA ) has seen around 1,300 fires in American homeson Thanksgiving Day , which is three-fold the amount of an average November day .
For the last seven years , Texas has led the U.S. in the bit of Thanksgiving deep - fryer incidents . Texas is followed by llinois , Pennsylvania , Ohio , and New York . It ’s such an epidemic that State Farm has enlisted celebs likeWilliam Shatnerto make deep - frying safety videos .
You just ca n’t use the excuse any longer that the serotonin - inducingamino acid tryptophan is the reason you conk out after dinner . Foods like soy , nut , lobster , even spinach havehigher tryptophan sum than turkey . In actuality , it’shigh caloric intake plus increased societal interactionthat make you sleepy . But you should in all probability lay off the Tofurkey , just to be good .
Althoughmany turkeys have been invest to the White Houseover the yr , the tradition of the amnesty is relatively new . John F. Kennedy begin the practice session of sending these talented turkeys to local cuddling zoos , although no conventional amnesty was emerge . These events finally became televised , withRonald Reagan ham it up it up with his turkey Centennial State - star topology . In 1987 , Reagan was call for if he would considerpardoning Oliver North or John Poindexter after the Iran - Contra Affairand he crack a joke that heshould have pardoned the Thanksgiving turkey . Perhaps this trace was taken literally by his successor , because George H. W. Bush made the free pardon an official event when he took function two year later .
Although the traditional autumnal spread of turkey and fixings had been on the side celebrated by many Americans since the Revolutionary War epoch , there was n’t a nationwide escort set untilPresident Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in 1863asking all Americans “ to set apart and respect the last Thursday of November next , as a daytime of Thanksgiving and extolment to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens . ”
In 1939,President Franklin D. Rooseveltmoved Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of the monthto tot up another calendar week of holiday shopping to a nation still recovering from the effects of the Depression . 16 states refuse to make this change and for two days the country remained divided in its turkey - consuming celebrations . In 1941 , FDR compromised and after a longsighted battle in the House and Senate , Thanksgiving was relocate to the quaternary Thursday of November . And thus , Black Tuesday beget Black Friday .
They can also run about 25 mph . They ’re highly intelligent . Their gobbles can be hear a land mile by . And they ’re sleep with to eat small reptile . necessitate any more reasons to be terrify of these things ?
There arefive subspecies of the North American wild turkeywhich are found across 38 U.S. nation and four Canadian provinces . Of all these , the Eastern raging turkey are the heavy , growing up to four feet tall and weighing more than 20 pounds . The godforsaken turkey neared extinction in the 1930s , and as recently as 1973,there were only 1.5 million wild Meleagris gallopavo in North America . Conservations efforts have bring them back .
Something you ’ll decidedly require to bring up at the dinner board : Turkey sexuality can be identify by the shape of their turds . manful turkey poop look like the alphabetic character J and female poop is spiral - shaped . Should you ever need to track one . But think back : They can run quicker than you .
Top image : Elise Amendola / AP
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