From: 69jpil69@gmail.com   
      
   On Thu, 27 Nov 2025 10:52:00 -0800, Rufus  wrote:   
      
   >RonO  wrote:   
   >   
   >> 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.   
   >   
   >   
   >I raised turkeys a couple times, and I testify that they are really,   
   >really dumb.  Even dumber than the chickens.  They have barely enough   
   >neural activity to maintain consciousness.   
   >   
   >Cockroaches are smarter than domestic turkeys, and cockroaches are dumb   
   >enough to run under your upraised foot to hide.   
      
      
   Perhaps this is from their impoverished childhood (nature vs. nurture)   
      
      
   >Wild turkeys are a different story.   
   >   
   >>  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   
   >   
   >That's why we depend on buffalo to make up the shortage.   
      
   --    
   To know less than we don't know is the nature of most knowledge   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)