Happy Thanksgiving! Fun Turkey Facts

Here are a few fun facts about turkeys that you can share with your family and friends during Thanksgiving dinner. To learn even more about turkeys, visit the turkey animal facts page.

• Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.

• Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining.

• Turkeys spend the night in trees. They fly to their roosts around sunset.

• Turkeys fly to the ground at first light and feed until mid-morning. Feeding resumes in mid-afternoon.

• Gobbling starts before sunrise and can continue through most of the morning.

• A wild turkey has excellent vision and hearing. Their field of vision is about 270 degrees. This is the main reason they continue to elude some hunters.

• A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds.

• Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird.

• In 2007, the average American ate 17.5 pounds of turkey.

• The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, roughly the size of a large dog.