Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Ah, the noble turkey

It's easy to forget how big turkeys are. They can run to 21 pounds in the wild and apparently they used to be bigger.  Colonists of Eastern America regularly found birds weighing 27 to 35 pounds.  There were reports of 63 pound turkeys.  By the way, turkeys can reproduce through parthenogenesis. This means no contact of any kind with the male of the species is necessary. The female does it all by her lonesome. It's probably the most complex organism that can do this.  Who knew?  Happy Thanksgiving!  And to you vegetarians, Happy Tofu Turkey!   All locations of the Des Moines Public Library will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday on Thursday November 26 and Friday November 27. We will reopen our usual hours on Saturday November 28.

Source:  The world of the wild turkey [by] James C. Lewis.

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