mike the headless chicken. chicken lives after head is cut off.

[OutHouse]

ok, this is beyond bizarre. not only did a chicken live for 18 months after getting its head chopped off but there is a festival for it.


http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/history

 

[thestrangebrew1]

That is just crazy. Thanks for sharing. I'm cooking chicken tonight in his honor!

 

[yhelothar]

As long as the primitive parts of the brain that regulate autonomic functions are intact, it can still live, but it'll essentially be brain dead.

It would be so much more humane if they made all farm animals brain dead at birth.

Here's a cat running with almost the entire brain past the brainstem removed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPiLLplofYw

 

[colonelciller]

cats and dogs... the walking is controlled by a neural feedback circuit in the spinal chord. if their bodies are supported above a slowly moving treadmil they walk.

 

[yhelothar]

cats and dogs... the walking is controlled by a neural feedback circuit in the spinal chord. if their bodies are supported above a slowly moving treadmil they walk.

Yeah, and all other vertebrates as well.
The locomotor pattern generators are in the spine. But they need to be activated by the mesencephalic locomotor region in the brainstem.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21333802

 

[Mixolydian]

Well there's that saying "... like a chicken with its head cut off."

 

[colonelciller]

Yeah, and all other vertebrates as well.
The locomotor pattern generators are in the spine. But they need to be activated by the mesencephalic locomotor region in the brainstem.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21333802

interesting

 

[Dirigible]

I recommend visiting Fruita if you like mountain biking or if you like statues of mike the headless chicken.

 

[OutHouse]

As long as the primitive parts of the brain that regulate autonomic functions are intact, it can still live, but it'll essentially be brain dead.

It would be so much more humane if they made all farm animals brain dead at birth.

Here's a cat running with almost the entire brain past the brainstem removed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPiLLplofYw

umm the chickens whole head is gone. there is no brain.

hence the title of my thread.

mike the headless chicken. chicken lives after head is cut off.

 

[SagaLore]

18 months? Without a means to consume it would die of dehydration.

oh just read it. He kept it alive with an eye dropper :O

 

[Dirigible]

18 months? Without a means to consume it would die of dehydration.

Mike still had a neck. With a hole leading to the tummy.

 

[PsiStar]

A bit of a stretch, but my mother told me to stay away when she butchered the chickens because once the head was chopped off they would sometimes chase after vibrations in the ground sensed by their feet.

Not a great bed time story when I was 5 years old.

 

[yhelothar]

umm the chickens whole head is gone. there is no brain.

hence the title of my thread.

There are parts of the brain intact, the brainstem, which is in the neck.

Clearly the brainstem is still intact or the chicken wouldn't be alive. It's not magic.

 

[Zeze]

This is all just god damn creepy.

 

[silverpig]

I read about this a while ago. I think the chicken died when a seed got stuck in his windpipe or something.