This post comes to us from WFPL Environmental Reporter Kristin Espeland Gourlay.

Well, some of you might know these facts about the traditional American bird, but for those of you who don’t, here are some tidbits:

The bird you’re eating now didn’t exist until around the 1940s. According to the USDA, most turkeys in the 1930s had dark plumage, narrower breasts, and weighed between 18 and 25 pounds. But a survey was conducted showing that consumers wanted a turkey with more breast meat, as well as one that could more easily fit in the refrigerator. So, the USDA began a breeding program and, by 1947, introduced a new breed called the Beltsville Small White. Consumers demanded still more breast meat, and so the Broad Breasted White was created. By 1965, it dominated the market.

Broad breasted whites are so broad breasted they can’t mate. Producers have to artificially inseminate them.

More than 300 million turkeys are raised in the U.S. every year, most of them broad breasted whites.

The average size of a turkey has grown by more than 4% every year; today the average weight is more than 28 pounds.

Over the past few decades, the number of turkey producers has dropped more than 30% as operations consolidate.

In the early 1970s, there were barely more than a million wild turkeys left in the U.S. Today, there are more than 7 million.

Bon appetit!