From: rokimoto557@gmail.com   
      
   On 11/27/2025 5:53 AM, jillery wrote:   
   > On Wed, 26 Nov 2025 15:35:43 -0600, RonO    
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >> https://abcnews.go.com/   
   >>   
   >> "Why some people are adopting turkeys instead of eating them" is a   
   >> video.  It is currently the top of the list, but it goes down as more   
   >> are added.   
   >>   
   >> It gets to some people that turkeys are likely smarter than your dog or   
   >> cat.  They have a bird's brain, and it is more efficient (in terms of   
   >> what it can do relative to it's size) than a mammlian brain.  I've known   
   >> people who treat their turkey like they would their dog.  It can follow   
   >> you around the yard and seems to want attention just like any other pet.   
   >>   We have likely selected them to be less mentally atuned than their   
   >> wild counterparts just like we selected dogs to have around 30% smaller   
   >> brains by body weight than wolves.  Dogs were the major protein source   
   >> before turkeys were domesticated for Mexico and South America.   
   >> Basically you need a food animal to stick around long enough to be eaten.   
   >>   
   >> Ron Okimoto   
   >   
   >   
   > I have read that domestic turkeys are dumber than rocks, but wild   
   > turkeys are quite alert.  OTOH I also read that wild toms can be   
   > territorial and aggressive even with their owners, attacking the back   
   > of a person's neck.   
   >   
      
   Domestic turkeys have been bred so that a lot of the instinctive   
   behaviors have been lost, just like domestic dogs, but my guess is that   
   they might still be smarter in terms of observation, movement within and   
   analysis of their environment than dogs.  As I noted, I've known people   
   that treat their turkey like they would a dog.  They just have lost   
   instinctive reactions to the environment.  The turkeys seem to want the   
   company.  They no longer react to environmental stimuli in the same way   
   that wild turkeys do, and lack the knee jerk reactions.  My guess is   
   that we have never evaluated just how intelligent turkeys and chickens   
   are because we eat them.  There was that article that I put up several   
   years ago where they determined that baby chicks might be self aware,   
   something that dogs and cats may lack.  They noted that if they had a   
   chick isolated even in the presence of mirrors that it would give the   
   gathering call to be with other chicks, but if instead of a mirror they   
   had a window where they could see another chick that they would not give   
   the gathering call.  They seemed to know the difference between their   
   reflection and another bird.  Chicken is the most consumed animal in the   
   US.  Over 9 billion of them are raised every year in the US.  Each one   
   only has two wings to give up for the Superbowl.   
      
   Ron Okimoto   
      
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