Turkey Facts For Kids
Fun Facts About Turkeys For Kids
I’m very excited that you stopped by to learn some turkey facts for kids today! These amazing and fun facts about turkeys should be pretty interesting. They are actually a pretty incredible bird. Many people think that they are dumb but that’s simply not the truth. These birds were almost our national bird ahead of the bald eagle at one point. I hope that you enjoy these interesting turkey facts for kids! Let’s get this started.
Turkey Facts For Kids
Fun Facts About Turkeys For Kids
Let’s get started with some quick turkey facts for kids. This is just to help you understand where they rank and how they are viewed in the scientific community. It’s always interesting to see this information on any animal.
Fun Turkey Facts For Kids
Facts About Turkeys For Kids
♦ A turkey under 16 weeks of age is called a fryer, at 5-7 months they are called a roaster.
♦ Turkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the western hemisphere.
♦ Even without any external ears, turkeys have great hearing.
♦ Turkeys have excellent vision. They have a very wide field of vision (about 270 degrees) so sneaking up on them is no easy task.
♦ They have an excellent sense of taste (weird) but have a terrible sense of smell.
♦ Wild turkeys can fly at incredible speeds, up to 55 MPH but only for short distances. They can also reach fast speeds on ground, up to 25 MPH. Domestic turkeys are unable to fly.
♦ Sometimes turkeys spend the night in a tree.
♦ Turkeys are apparently pretty sensitive animals. They can have heart attacks from hearing loud sounds or being startled. Near Air Force test areas turkeys are have been studied to drop dead from the sound barrier being broken.
♦ There is a ballroom dance named after turkeys, the Turkey Trot. It was created after the turkeys jerky steps.
♦ A group of turkeys is called a flock.
♦ They will often sleep with their flock on a tree. Upon waking up they will let out a series of soft yelps before going to the ground. This is to check on the flock, to make sure they are okay after not seeing them since the day previous. Learn all about turkeys strange sleeping habits including where wild turkeys sleep at night.
♦ Male turkeys can gobble, but female turkeys (hen) are unable to gobble.
♦ Did you know that a turkey can “blush”? When they become scared, angry, excited or sick the skin that is exposed can actually change from it’s pale pink or bluish grey to a red, white or blue. Red, white and blue? Wow, maybe they should be our national bird!
♦ The strange fleshy skin that hangs over the turkeys beak is called a snood, this also changes colors to bright red when the bird get’s excited.
♦ Turkeys actually have 2 stomachs.
♦ Turkey eggs hatch in only 28 days.
♦ The fleshy bright red growth under the turkeys throat is called a wattle.
Fun Turkey Facts For Kids
Turkey Facts For Kids
Facts About Turkeys When It Comes To Eating
Here are some great turkey facts for kids, these all are about Thanksgiving though. Unfortunately for turkeys, this will mostly be about them being food. Americans consume a lot of turkey, but much more than usual around Thanksgiving and the holiday season. Let’s take a look at some cool facts about turkeys for kids!
- Native American have been hunting turkey as early as 1000 BC for it’s juicy delicious meat.
- The average American ate 16 pounds of turkey in 2012.
- Per a survey by the National Turkey Federation, 88% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.
- The holidays where the most turkeys are consumed is Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. 46 million on Thanksgiving, 22 million on Christmas and 19 million on Easter.
- Since 1970 turkey consumption has increased by 104%.
- 242 million turkeys were to be domestically raised in 2013.
- In the United States the turkey industry employs around 20-25K people!
- Behind chicken, beef and pork, turkey is the #4 protein choice in the U.S.
- 703.3 Million pounds of turkey was exported in 2011.
- 15 pounds is the average weight of a turkey purchased.
- The largest turkey ever domesticated was 86 pounds, which is the size of a large dog!
- The most popular ways to serve leftover turkey are burger, casseroles, soup chili, stew or sandwich.
- Even though turkey does contain a chemical called triptofane, it actually isn’t enough to make you tired. That is just a myth. The amount of carbohydrates you just consumed messes with your blood sugar and spikes drowsiness.
- Turkey is a popular meat for health reasons because of it’s low fat to protein content.
- Turkey also contains more protein than either chicken or beef.
- White meat is the healthier choice, it has less fat than dark meat.
Final Thoughts
Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope that you know more about turkeys now than when you left from reading these fun turkey facts for kids. Not only are they a neat bird, but they are necessary to help feed people in our country. There is a certain amount of respect and appreciation we should show an animal that feeds us in that big of a quantity. I hope that you and your family enjoy your turkey this holiday season!
We have so many more articles to browse through full of historical events and interesting animals! Stick around and visit our top 20 most amazing creatures you never knew existed. Feel free to check in with us every now and then as we are adding more amazing animals daily!
Spend a couple moments of your time and learn some interesting facts about the famous Reindeer! Or you can check out some fun facts about Thanksgiving or Halloween.
What does the American Turkey see? Is their vision good? What colors do they see?
they see blue