I have always pondered which came first; the chicken or the egg? Until I stumbled on these 10 weird facts I never knew about Chickens. I guess you too do not know as well:)
Did you know the global chicken population is estimated to be around 25 billion? Which means there are more chickens on the planet than any other bird species, and they outnumber us (humans)? OR Did you that there are more than 400 different chicken breeds in existence?
Keep reading for 10 more amazing but weird things you didn’t know about these yummy and delicious (when prepared) cluckers from way back.
1. Chickens dream: Yep, scientists say that chickens experience REM sleep, which means they are capable of dreaming. But what do chicken’s dream about? It’s a question to ponder.
2. Female chickens have a natural “morning after pill” option: Chickens like to have a lot of sex with multiple partners at once. But if a hen decides she doesn't want to have chicks with a particular rooster after doing the deed, an Oxford University study proved she can eject his sperm rather than bear his offspring. This usually happens when the rooster is lower in the pecking order.
3. Running chicken is not just a joke: Chickens are actually quite quick, and can reach speeds of nine miles per hour, which isn't too shabby for a bird with short legs.
4. Chickens have a third eyelid: Chickens have the normal top and bottom eyelids and then there’s a third eyelid made from a transparent membrane that opens and closes horizontally and operates independently from the top and bottom eyelids.
5. Chickens love to gossip: Chickens have a pretty advanced language with more than 30 documented different vocalizations – meaning their chirps change depending on what the chicken is talking about.
6. Chickens recognize their people: Chickens have excellent face recognition skills and can distinguish between family members’ faces on a farm. Italian researchers also demonstrated chickens have a grasp of object permanence — understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be observed — from as young as two days old, something human babies don’t develop until at least six months of age.
7. Chickens have had their DNA mapped: The chicken holds the honor of being the first bird to have its genome sequenced, which scientists did back in 2005.
8. Chickens can live a long time: The oldest known living chicken was named Muffy (pictured here). She was a red quill muffed American red game species and died at the age of 22.
9. Chickens are mostly water: A chicken’s body is made of up of 75 percent water. By comparison a human body is made up of about 65 percent water.
10. World’s largest chicken: The world’s largest known chicken weighed in at a whopping 23 pounds 3 ounces. Big Snow was a white sully chicken from Queensland, Australia who died of natural causes in 1992. No known chicken has broken the record since.
sources: afkinsder, Discovery News, Backyardchickens, Organic Gardening
Photo credit: flickr.com, geograph.ie, en.wikipedia.org, commons.wikimedia.org, publicphoto.org, guinnessworldrecord.com, geography.org.uk, petdirectory.com.au
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