Dumb turkeys (II)...this time at the NYTimes

Just a few days ago, my brother debunked the always-silly idea that turkeys are so dumb (how dumb are they?!) that they turn their open beaks up to the clouds and drown in a rain storm.

Now, in the New York Times's on their "Idea of the Day" page, subtitled "Must reads from the Week in Review staff" (remember...layers of fact-checkers!) they quote the same article my brother pointed to from the American Enterprise Institute:

Much of his argument comes down to: beware the law of unintended agricultural consequences. Farming without herbicides means more tilling and more erosion. Let turkeys roam outside and they’re prone to attack by weasels, or drowning by their own upturned beaks in downpours. Freeing massive hogs from confinement crates means they sometimes crush their piglets to death, or eat them right after they’re born.

If it's in the New York Times, you know, it must be true!

This is how stupid science propagates.

Steve says: I should point out that I think it's plausible that a severe storm could wipe out a flock of young turkeys. If they get waterlogged, they might die of hypothermia. But drowning from looking up is preposterous.