Inspiration Thursday: Turkeys

Yes I know, I should have spoken about turkeys a week ago for Thanksgiving. However, today I was catching up on my podcast listening, and I heard a fascinating podcast about turkeys. You can also hear it on iTunes. It is a Scientific American podcast from November 24, 2010.
The scientist interviewed was an animal behavior expert on turkeys (who ever knew there was such a thing?). He studies their behavior I suspect, to help figure out how to alter them for better eating, but I won’t preach my vegetarians principles here.
What I discovered is that turkeys can see in the ultra violet spectrum, unlike humans. The scientists believe this is to aid the females in finding their desirable mates. You see, male turkeys have gorgeous feather color which is pleasing to the girl turkeys. But this is a health advantage. It has been found that the more colorful turkeys are actually healthier. So, picking the colorful guy, you are insured that you will have healthier babies.

But what is really fascinating is that after analyzing the turkeys sight, the scientists believe they can see a color that humans can’t see. Wow, a color we can’t see. And, we will never know what it looks like. How do we even think about that? Can you imagine a color that we cannot see? It just seems impossible and inconceivable.
Beautiful creature.

Read more at: What Happened to Poetry?