written by: Maxx Chan
55 mph: Maximum air speed of wild turkey
0 mph: Air speed of a commercial turkey
4,500 calories: The average gobbled on Thanksgiving
5: Diseases possible from the feast: botulism, listeria, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, trichinosis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
2.8 million: turkeys are produced in Utah—12th in the nation.
75 Million: years ago, turkey-like creatures first roamed the Americas.
No. 1 Thanksgiving myth: That Ben Franklin backed the wild turkey as the national bird. Ben only joked that turkeys are courageous and “a much more respectable bird” than the bald eagle, which eats carrion.
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See more inside our 2017 November/December Issue.
