Turkey Trivia:
What is a baby turkey called?

1. Chick
2. Poult
3. Peep
4. Thanksgiving Dinner in the making

Correct Trivia Answer:
b) Poult

When U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin sat down to eat their first meal on the moon in their historic 1969 voyage, their foil food packets contained roasted turkey and all the trimmings.

Americans eat about 18 pounds of turkey, per person, per year, according to the National Turkey Federation. But turkey is still running fourth in the meat popularity polls. Chicken leads at 72 pounds per capita; then comes beef (68 pounds) and pork (52 pounds). But turkey wins on Thanksgiving, when 91 percent of American households serve the big bird, adding up to 675 million pounds of turkey consumed on this one day.

About 240 million domestic turkeys are raised each year in the United States, with North Carolina, Minnesota, and California leading in production. Domestic turkeys are bred to gain weight quickly. A tom (male) turkey can reach a weight of 30 pounds within 18 weeks after hatching. The Guinness Book of Records states that the largest dressed weight (cooked, with dressing) recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lb.) on December 12, 1989.

Turkeys are widely hunted, particularly the Wild Turkey in North America. Unlike their domestic counterparts, the wild turkeys are agile flyers. Turkeys have great hearing, a poor sense of smell, but an excellent sense of taste. They can also see in color, and have excellent visual acuity and a wide field of vision (about 270 degrees), which makes sneaking up on them difficult.

Legend and Lore
A popular urban legend asserts that eating turkey makes you unusually drowsy and many people do experience the urge to sleep after feasting on turkey. Is this true, or merely another urban legend? Turkey does contain tryptophan, which is an amino acid that is a natural sedative. But tryptophan doesn't act on the brain unless it is taken on an empty stomach with no protein present, and the amount gobbled even during a holiday feast is generally too small to have an appreciable effect. That lazy, lethargic feeling so many are overcome by at the conclusion of a festive season meal is most likely due to the combination of drinking alcohol and overeating a carbohydrate-rich meal.