# Difference between white and dark meat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289 "2005-09-12T18:06:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/21 "2005-09-13T07:41:53Z")
The dark meat might actually be poisonous or something; you’d better let me eat it, no, really - I don’t mind - you guys have the best bit - the white meat, I’ll just take care of the disposal of this nasty, sticky, juicy, delicious… I mean _dangerous_ dark meat. Tee hee. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/22 "2005-09-13T12:31:07Z")
Personally, I don’t think there’s enough difference to love one and hate the other. Dark meat has more flavor, white meat is dryer… but all in all, they’re both chicken. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/23 "2005-09-13T12:53:27Z")
Someone once asked The Playboy Advisor “What’s the difference between Dark Meat and White Meat?” Their immediate response? “Is this a Sex Question?” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/24 "2005-09-13T12:56:41Z")
I prefer dark - particularly the drumsticks - not so much because it’s tastier (though it is, to me) but because it can be easily eaten with the hands, like corn on the cob. As long as we’re on the subject of pultry physiology, I’m going to hijack to something I’d always been curious about. On the drumstick, coming out of the cartilage cap at the top, there’s this pointy thin bone, kind of like a toothpick. Does that bone have a name? ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/25 "2005-09-13T13:51:03Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I prefer dark - particularly the drumsticks - not so much because it’s tastier (though it is, to me) but because it can be easily eaten with the hands, like corn on the cob. > > As long as we’re on the subject of pultry physiology, I’m going to hijack to something I’d always been curious about. On the drumstick, coming out of the cartilage cap at the top, there’s this pointy thin bone, kind of like a toothpick. Does that bone have a name? I think that’s the (chicken equivalent of the) fibula, while the main portion of the drumstick is the tibia. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/26 "2005-09-13T13:53:49Z")
Here’s a diagram, which should hold true for most birds: [http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Laboratories/BirdSkeleton.gif](http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Laboratories/BirdSkeleton.gif) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/27 "2005-09-13T14:17:26Z")
> [@caveman](#): > > I think that’s the (chicken equivalent of the) fibula, while the main portion of the drumstick is the tibia. Looks like it, thanks for the diagram. Though the main drumstick is apparently called “Tibiotarsus”…looks like birds have an extra leg bone that most mammals don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Teter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Teter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teter)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/28 "2005-09-13T18:13:46Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > …looks like birds have an extra leg bone that most mammals don’t. which one? are you talking about the hypotarsus? if so this just a situation similar to many other animals (commonly noted “crooked as a dogs hind leg”) ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/29 "2005-09-13T19:10:13Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > So… white meat is white because it’s from muscles that have become redundant and are not actually used by the birds. Dark meat is from parts of the chicken that actually got exercise. > > Kinda spooky, when you think about it, that we prefer the lazy part of the chicken. But I’m guilty of a fondness for white meat too. 🙂 The last time I grabbed a chicken to bake when it came out the wings and thighs were white meat. That made me sad. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/30 "2005-09-13T19:11:21Z")
I should specify it made me sad both because I felt bad for the poor chicken that never got a chance to really walk and fly, and because I prefer dark meat. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/31 "2005-09-13T20:09:07Z")
> [@teter](#): > > which one? are you talking about the hypotarsus? if so this just a situation similar to many other animals Yes, that’s the one I was referring to. True, dogs hind legs look crooked like that, but the skeletal morphology can be matched in terms familiar on the human skeleton. Despite the similarity in shape, dogs hind legs are not, internally, like chickens’. ---
**Author:** ![Teter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Teter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teter)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289/32 "2005-09-13T20:23:18Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Despite the similarity in shape, dogs hind legs are not, internally, like chickens’. i am guessing that internal morphology has evolved into what is now unique to avians. i continue my speculation that the bird doesn’t have an extra leg bone but rather an evolutionary adaptation of the foot. similar to other animals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-white-and-dark-meat/321289.md?page=1)