
The chicken that lived for 18 months without a head - SimplyUseless
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34198390
======
Someone1234
This would definitely be classed as animal abuse today.

To quote the article:

> Reports indicate that Mike's beak, face, eyes and an ear were removed with
> the hatchet blow. But Smulders estimates that up to 80% of his brain by mass
> - and almost everything that controls the chicken's body, including heart
> rate, breathing, hunger and digestion - remained untouched.

So in effect the chicken was still alive and potentially suffering the whole
18 months. Lovely.

~~~
morley
I don't really understand; the images in the article show a chicken with its
entire head and neck removed, which doesn't jibe with that description. Am I
just mistaken about chicken anatomy, or is there something missing?

~~~
yincrash
That is the chicken[1] in the photo. According to the article, a lot of a
chicken's brain is in the very back of the head / beginning of the neck. I
believe in the photo, that's still got the entire neck there.

Comparison photo of a full chicken[2].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken)
[2]
[http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130606165306/animalcros...](http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130606165306/animalcrossing/images/4/41/Chicken.jpg)

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enlightenedfool
I know in general there's no room for pity when it comes to animals for food.
But just felt sad reading this, especially the attempts to replicate Mike's
case. It frustrates me that while we make a strong legal case against cruelty
towards animals, we don't give a thought about those animals that are turned
to food for humans. Of course, you could argue why harm vegetables/plants for
food, but I guess animals suffer much more because of higher consciousness.

~~~
venomsnake
Actually we give a lot of thoughts. There are both care and butchering
standards - sadly the later, as usual for religious people and law, is opt in.
There are exceptions for kosher and halal.

In Europe the animal well being is also codified into laws and regulation.

And a lot of small farms do care about their chickens and livestock.

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proactivesvcs
I read about this years ago on [http://www.damninteresting.com/superflous-
brain/](http://www.damninteresting.com/superflous-brain/) which is one of the
most accurate domain names on the Internet.

I wonder what'd happen with a similar experiment on Hans the Counting Horse?

~~~
monopolemagnet
Yup. And here's 7 more damn awesome articles:

1\. [http://www.damninteresting.com/the-birth-control-of-
yesterye...](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-birth-control-of-yesteryear/)

2\. [http://www.damninteresting.com/the-
clockmaker/](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-clockmaker/)

3\. [http://www.damninteresting.com/the-
derelict/](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-derelict/)

4\. [http://www.damninteresting.com/the-ethyl-poisoned-
earth/](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-ethyl-poisoned-earth/)

5\. [http://www.damninteresting.com/the-zero-armed-
bandit/](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-zero-armed-bandit/)

6\. [http://www.damninteresting.com/spies-on-the-roof-of-the-
worl...](http://www.damninteresting.com/spies-on-the-roof-of-the-world/)

7\. [http://www.damninteresting.com/undark-and-the-radium-
girls/](http://www.damninteresting.com/undark-and-the-radium-girls/)

Full archive:
[http://www.damninteresting.com/archives/](http://www.damninteresting.com/archives/)

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danso
I skimmed around Google...what's the next longest record for a chicken? The OP
mentions rumors of scientists trying to repeat the phenomenon though none
apparently successful...unless Mike had a extraordinarily unique
anatomy...wouldn't this kind of thing been seen before, among all the billions
of chickens killed since then? (Obviously, many billions more are killed every
year, but probably not with an ax). Doing it as a science experiment seems
cruel...but not nearly as seemingly cruel as many other kinds of animal
experiments.

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drjackal
If it is possible to be alive without a brain, then if you think about it that
explains Donald Trump.

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ching_wow_ka
I skimmed through the article, but I couldn't find anything about how the
chicken was fed.

~~~
kmax12
It mentions "Mike was fed with liquid food and water that the Olsens dropped
directly into his oesophagus."

