Can chicken really survive without a head?
How in the world can something with a head survive without one?
Wouldn’t the heart stop pumping and all?
Or is this just a big joke http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/Mike%20Story.htm
It wasn’t completely headless, apparantly. Most of the brain was still there, in particular the brainstem which controls breathing and balance. More of a “faceless” than “headless” chicken, really.
One of my favorite stories… Good ol’ Mike!
I sure could go for a McNugget now.
I believe that answers your question. Obviously, the chicken was not capable of any thinking, if ever it were, but the reflex actions necessary for life were still intact: breathing and cardiac rhythmia.
But wouldn’t things like pecking on the floor be something more of choice than instinct?..So can a human also “live” like that chicken if all except the brain stem was cut?
I’d say that pretty much everything a chicken does is instinctual. And yes, humans can survive with just a brain stem. Anencephalic babies for instance.
Cecil did an article on Mike, but I’m too lazy to find a link for you.