February 5, 2001

6:25 PM

Lost but not forgotten? My days of not consuming animals based on the assumption that they are thinking, feeling beings may be swayed by this article on a chicken that lived four and a half years…without a head.
posted by poodle (7 comments total)

That's not a Mike link. This is a Mike link :) Found that a few years ago... never thought it would come up again...
posted by louie at 6:34 PM on February 5, 2001

This bodes well for our country. All we need is four.

duck
posted by dhartung at 12:15 AM on February 6, 2001

According to this page:

"A week into Mike's new life Olsen packed him up and took him 250 miles to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The skeptical scientists were eager to answer all the questions regarding Mike's amazing ability to survive with no head. It was determined that axe blade had missed the jugular vein and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was in a jar, most of his brain stem and one ear was left on his body. Since most of a chicken's reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem Mike was able to remain quite healthy. "

So it's unusual but not supernatural.

And Cecil Adams seems to think it's possible, and he's usually reliable in absurd matters such as this.
posted by pracowity at 1:57 AM on February 6, 2001

Animals think, but not the same way we do.

For instance, right now I'm thinking I'd like to eat a nice porterhouse steak.

I'd like to see a big dumb cow think the same.
posted by bondcliff at 5:37 AM on February 6, 2001

We have been warned as children not to ruhn around like a chicken without his head. and yet, many in congress seem alive without even the stem, though a former president, always feeling one's pain, asked for and seems to have recieved head.
posted by Postroad at 10:14 AM on February 6, 2001

can someone shed some light on this:
'...and one ear was left on his body' ?
birds(chickens too!) have a miniscule external ear. to reduce noise during flight, the functional portions of a bird ear are internal to the skull. while i realize that chickens do very little flying, how can an ear remain if the head is removed?
posted by donkeysuck at 11:24 AM on February 6, 2001

Because it was only two-thirds of his head.
posted by rodii at 1:16 PM on February 6, 2001