16) Why Wild Turkeys Are Rarely Served for Thanksgiving Dinner

There's a the traditional way to look at turkeys: As holiday food although it wasn't part of the Thanksgiving menu until the 1860s and didn't dominate the holiday meal until after WWII. There's the modern traditional way of looking at turkeys: Food from a factory farm where nowadays the average U.S. residents eat 17 pounds of turkey a year. There's the alternative traditional way to look at turkeys: organic, locally grown, free range and heritage breed turkeys, which let you enjoy a traditional holiday meal without consuming the inhumanely raised, antibiotic-injected, pesticide-laden-feed-eating turkeys. Finally there's the traditional traditional way to look at turkeys: wild turkeys.

However, here are 7 surprising facts about turkeys:

1. The Broad Breasted White Turkey is the bird sold virtually in every supermarket.
2. Many of the approximately 25,000 heritage breed turkeys raised each year are consumed around Thanksgiving
3. Turkey does have L-trytophan but not enough to make you sleepy
4. Wild turkeys were nearly wiped out from the U.S. by overzealous hunters
5. A Broad Breasted White turkey will grow to a weight of 35 pounds in just 19 weeks
6. Turkeys recognize each other by their unique voices and 20 distinct vocalizations
7. Turkey hunting is the second most popular hunting sport behind deer hunting, but few people eat wild turkeys on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Link to site: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/turkey-facts