Numbers Game: Turkeys


Photo: NixBC, Flickr Creative Commons

There are a ton of pretty amazing Thanksgiving-related stats in general, like the fact that by the end of this year, the U.S. will have produced somewhere around 750 million pounds of cranberries (not all for the one November meal, of course) or that the average American consumed more than 13 pounds of turkey during 2009 alone. Kind of crazy.

But since we鈥檙e a magazine that loves to write about birds, here are some fun numbers about turkeys鈥攖he wild kind鈥攆rom the , the PBS documentary 鈥溾 (which we鈥檒l review later this week), and the .

Editor鈥檚 note: Keep checking the blog for more turkey-tastic content between now and November 24.

5 鈥 Sub-species of wild turkey: Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Merriam鈥檚 and Gould鈥檚. (NWTF)

6,000 鈥 Number of feathers that cover a turkey, in what are called feather tracts. 鈥淎 turkey鈥檚 feathers provide a variety of survival functions,鈥 according to the National Wild Turkey Federation. 鈥淭hey keep him warm and dry, allow him to fly, feel and show off for the opposite sex.鈥 (NWTF)

24 鈥 Pounds a male wild turkey can weigh. (PBS)

25 鈥 Miles per hour a wild turkey can run. (PBS)

200 鈥 Number of individuals that can be seen in winter groups of hens and their broods. (Cornell)

17 鈥 Max number of eggs in a wild turkey clutch. (Cornell)

248 million 鈥 Expected number of turkeys raised in the United States in 2011. (Census Bureau)

7.1 billion 鈥 Combined weight, in pounds, of turkeys raised in the U.S. in 2010. (Census Bureau)

30 鈥 Total number of different calls a wild turkey can make. (PBS)

1.3 million 鈥 Global population of wild turkeys. (Cornell)