The chicken that lived for 18 months without a head

[alien_head]

Seventy years ago, a farmer beheaded a chicken in Colorado, and it refused to die. Mike, as the bird became known, survived for 18 months and became famous. But how did he live without a head for so long. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34198390

[patrickwass]

I remember hearing about this story before. Amazing chicken. Just makes you realize that the desire to live is underrated.

[ricky1874]

I don't know...it just seems like it would be better if the farmer would have just killed the chicken. You never know what kinds of suffering that chicken went through. If it was up to me, I think I would have just put it out of its misery.

[jasmine]

If it lived for 18 months without the head, I don't think it was suffering, if it was suffering, I would have died sooner. This makes us understand that heart is more important than the brain. Just kidding.

[alien_head]

It's just amazing that this chicken lived for that long. It just makes me wonder just how many developed species could live like that for that length of time?

[William_K]

This was crazy! We ought to learn along from this as human beings. I admire his strength and resilience and think that everyone can learn something from him. There are a few theories that could explain how Mike the headless chicken lived for 18 months. One theory is that the bird's brainstem was still functioning, which allowed it to breathe and eat. Another possibility is that the chicken's body produced extra blood to compensate for the lack of a head, which helped to keep it alive.