``Headless Chicken Mike'' survived for 18 months even after his head was cut off, owner's great-grandson talks about that time
The chicken that lived for 18 months without a head - BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34198390
On September 10, 1945, Lloyd Olsen and his wife Clara, who were living as farmers in Fruita, Colorado, were slaughtering chickens on their farm. Mr. Olsen was in charge of decapitating a chicken with a hatchet and Clara was in charge of cleaning it, when one of the decapitated birds started running around without dying. Mr. Olsen saw a strange chicken that continued to move even after losing its head, so he decided to wait overnight to see what was going on, but when he checked the next morning, the headless chicken was still alive.
When Olsen went to the meat market to sell his chicken, he also loaded the headless chicken onto his wagon. He then asked people, ``Is there a chicken that can live without a head?'' and bet beer, etc. As a result, word of the ``miracle chicken'' spread quickly, with local newspapers interviewing Olsen, and two weeks later, show promoter Hope Wade summoned Olsen and the headless chicken. The chicken visited Salt Lake City, 300 miles (about 480 km) away.
Olsen, who traveled to Salt Lake City, brought ``Headless Chicken Mike'' to the University of Utah, where a series of tests proved that Mike was alive. After that, Hope Wade decided that she could make money, and began traveling around the United States with Mike and his wife, Mr. Olsen, to perform at shows. After that, he was featured in Life magazine and other publications as ``Miracle Mike,'' and Mike's popularity spread throughout the country, making him the most famous chicken in America.
Dr Smulders, from Newcastle University, said: 'Cut off the head and it cuts off the connection between the brain and the torso.In the short term, oxygen remains in the circuits of the spinal cord, which can activate neurons and cause the legs to move. However, this reaction usually lasts only 15 minutes and does not last for 18 months.' Dr. Smulders speculates, ``Mike's brain may have remained at around 80%.The functions that control heart rate, breathing, hunger, and digestion may have remained untouched.'' Fortunately, his blood clotted quickly, so he did not bleed profusely, and his brain stem remained in his torso, which is thought to have kept him alive.
Mike was unable to feed himself, so he was given water and liquid food directly through a tube down his throat and through a dropper. However, in the spring of 1947, Mike, who was in Phoenix, Arizona, choked on liquid food at the motel where his family was staying, and by the time Olsen and others noticed, he was already dead. It's not known what Olsen did with the dead Mike afterward, but Olsen's great-grandson, Troy Waters, said, ``Mike was left in the Phoenix desert and eaten by coyotes.'' I think so.''
In addition, it seems that Mr. Olsen's family is thought to have become super rich due to the headless chicken Mike's show house tour, but Mr. Waters denies it, ``That is an exaggeration.'' At that time, Olsen bought a hay baler, two tractors, and replaced horses and donkeys. He also bought a small Chevrolet truck as a small luxury, but his lifestyle hasn't changed much.
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