Wacky Pest Wednesday: Turkey
Happy Wednesday to all you Tri-County Pest Control fans out there! We invite you to join us today for a very festive edition of Wacky Pest Wednesday, as we cover the turkey! So, keep on reading to “gobble” up all you can about this amazing bird.
Ah, the turkey. Well, where do we start? Native to the Americas and the fulcrum of the first Thanksgiving meal, the turkey has earned a place in the heart of the American tradition. However, these birds are so much more than just a really big chicken, as 45 million years of evolution can certainly cause some familial rifts. While they may not be able to fly like their chicken relatives, turkeys can see in color and run as fast a 20 miles per hour.
What you may not know about this fun bird is that they were nearly hunted to extinction in the early 1900s, so much so that there were only around 30,000 birds left. That may not seem like a lot to some, but it is when compared to the current turkey population in the nation—just about one per U.S. consumer. That’s a lot of turkey!
One of the most popular stories surrounding the turkey is that Ben Franklin proposed it to be the symbol of the United States. Now, while he never did propose it formally, he did comment on how the turkey was a much more respectable bird than the bald eagle. He did in fact write in his journal that, “For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison [to the bald eagle] a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America… He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.” So there you have it in the words of Franklin himself: the Brave Turkey—the ever-present defender of America.
No matter how you see the turkey, we know that it does hold a special place in the American story, much like Thanksgiving as a whole. Feel free to entertain your family tomorrow with all of these fun facts about the bird—it’ll be much better than arguing about politics with your crazy uncle!
To our Tri-County fans far and wide, we wish all of you a happy a wonderful Thanksgiving!
