Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Things You didn't Know: "How do I hypnotize a chicken?" -Al Gore Variant

From Mental Floss:

How do I hypnotize a chicken?

Screen shot 2010-02-24 at 2.48.04 AMThe chicken mind is easy to control, and chicken handlers have found several ways of hypnotizing chickens. Three methods known to make a chicken very, very sleepy are: 1) holding a chicken’s head under its wing and gently rocking its body, 2) holding a chicken upside down and wiggling a finger in circles around its beak, and 3) staring intently into a chickens’ eyes. Chickens will stay spellbound for several minutes, or even hours, until a loud noise snaps them out of their trance. Scientists think this state is a form of tonic immobility, a defense mechanism in which animals “play dead” in order to shake off a predator. Hypnotized chickens can so resemble inanimate objects that Vice President Al Gore recalled using them as paperweights and doorstops during his childhood days on the farm.

I’ve heard roosters don’t have penises. Is that true?...MORE

There's a certain irony in the answer.