On 10 September 1945, a farmer in Colorado attempted to kill a chicken for dinner. The chicken had other ideas.
Mike the Headless Chicken survived the attempted decapitation, and went on living for another 18 months, becoming a national celebrity, and one of the strangest animals in American history.
The young Wyandotte rooster belonged to farmer Lloyd Olsen in Fruita, Colorado. When the axe came down, the blow removed most of Mike’s head, but left enough of his brain stem intact to maintain basic bodily functions. One of his jugular veins was also reportedly spared.
Instead of dying, Mike remained standing.
By the following morning, he was reportedly still alive and attempting to behave much as he had before, including trying to peck for food, despite no longer having a head.
How did Mike survive without a head?
A chicken’s anatomy helped make Mike’s remarkable survival possible.
Much of a chicken’s brain is positioned towards the back of its skull, while structures responsible for basic functions can extend into the upper neck. The botched decapitation therefore left enough of Mike’s brain stem functioning to keep him alive.
His owners decided to care for him rather than attempt to kill him again. Mike was fed a mixture of liquid food and water directly through his exposed oesophagus, using an eyedropper.
His airway also had to be regularly cleared of mucus using a syringe.
Against all expectations, the arrangement worked.
Mike becomes a national celebrity
News of the headless chicken quickly spread beyond Fruita.
Mike became a touring attraction, with people paying to see the rooster that had apparently survived the unsurvivable. His story attracted national media attention and he was profiled by Time magazine.
His fame transformed an unsuccessful attempt at preparing dinner into a lucrative curiosity, with Mike travelling around the United States as the “Headless Wonder Chicken”.
He continued living for approximately 18 months after losing his head.
A bizarre end to an extraordinary survival
Mike’s remarkable run finally ended in 1947 while his owners were travelling with him.
Fluid occasionally accumulated in his throat and needed to be removed using the equipment his owners carried for that purpose.
During an overnight stop, however, they reportedly discovered that the equipment had been left behind. Mike began choking during the night and they were unable to clear his airway.
After surviving decapitation for around a year and a half, Mike ultimately died by choking.
His bizarre story has remained closely associated with Fruita ever since. The Colorado community has even held a Mike the Headless Chicken Festival in his honour, celebrating its exceptionally stubborn former resident.
More than eight decades after an axe was supposed to end his life, Mike remains an unusual example of just how strange animal biology can be – and of one chicken’s remarkable refusal to become dinner.
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