Here are some facts about the turkey you’ll be eating on Thanksgiving. Show off at the dinner table!:
- Turkeys live in flocks, roosting at night in thick tree trunks.
- Male turkeys are called “gobblers” or “toms” and female turkeys are called “hens.”
- Turkeys are polygamous — one male has a harem of females.
- Toms attract hens by gobbling and strutting.
- Hens lay about 12 eggs at a time, which hatch in 28 days.
- Wild turkeys can fly at speeds up to 55 miles per hour and run at around 12 miles per hour. However, domesticated turkeys can’t fly at all.
- Turkeys have 27 calls besides the gobble, including the “kee-kee,” the “purr,” the “yelp,” the “whine” and the “cluck.