Weird YouTube Video: Turkey Pagan Ritual

[Skynet]

A driver saw an odd sight today: a group of 10 turkeys walking around in a circle around a dead cat on the road. I have no idea if this is normal turkey behavior or not, but it's definitely eye-catching.

[midnightblack]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/turkeys-circle-dead-cat-viral-video/

But in all likelihood, the turkeys are less pagan and more paranoid: In a phone interview with National Geographic, wildlife biologist Tom Hughes of the National Wild Turkey Federation chalked up the turkeys’ behavior to a combination of curiosity and fear.

“My guess is they are puzzled by the strange behavior of the dead or dying cat,” says Hughes, “[and wanted] to get a better look, without getting too close.” The result, he says, is a circle of turkeys—mostly females—all eyeing the potential predator’s carcass, but none of them wanting to get any closer.

[Oniya]

I've seen this behavior in middle-schoolers.  Mostly boys, because quote 'Dead things are icky.' unquote.

'I think it's dead, Bill.'
'I think I saw it moving!'
'Poke it with a stick!'
'Naw, man - you poke it!'

[Mathim]

I saw the title and thought you meant the COUNTRY of Turkey since as far as I'm aware is highly religious and would therefore probably have some odd non-mainstream religious practices going on.

[midnightblack]

I saw the title and thought you meant the COUNTRY of Turkey since as far as I'm aware is highly religious and would therefore probably have some odd non-mainstream religious practices going on.

For a split second I was thinking the same thing, but the "pagan" part didn't click, with Turkey being for the majority an Islamic country and apparently heading for a religiously dominated shift in its political life.

[Mathim]

For a split second I was thinking the same thing, but the "pagan" part didn't click, with Turkey being for the majority an Islamic country and apparently heading for a religiously dominated shift in its political life.

Right, that's why when I saw the 'pagan' part, I thought it had to be very significant given those circumstances.

[Cognitive Brainfart]

I came here expecting the Turkish gov doing some weird ritual. What I found is even better xD

[Oniya]

*may have been the only one expecting birbs.*

[DelightfullyMAD]

(Speaking in a British Documentary voice) And here we have the rare Necromancer Turkey, engaging in a ritual of reanimation around the corpse of a cat.  This is a rare spectacle, one that we have never before seen.  Soon, should the ritual go as planned, we expect that the cat shall be reanimated as a zombie under the control of the Necromancer Turkeys.  However, if they fail, we have reason to believe that they may instead conjure a rainstorm.  If that happens, it is not unusual for these Turkeys to then drown to death as they gaze raptly up into the sky and into the storm that their dark magicks have conjured.  Truly, nature is more beautiful, and horrible, than we can ever fully imagine.

[Cognitive Brainfart]

(Speaking in a British Documentary voice) And here we have the rare Necromancer Turkey, engaging in a ritual of reanimation around the corpse of a cat.  This is a rare spectacle, one that we have never before seen.  Soon, should the ritual go as planned, we expect that the cat shall be reanimated as a zombie under the control of the Necromancer Turkeys.  However, if they fail, we have reason to believe that they may instead conjure a rainstorm.  If that happens, it is not unusual for these Turkeys to then drown to death as they gaze raptly up into the sky and into the storm that their dark magicks have conjured.  Truly, nature is more beautiful, and horrible, than we can ever fully imagine.

Honestly, I read this in the voice of the guy who does "True facts about the..." :D

[Sain]

Had no idea animals could get up to this sort of silliness. Would really love to know what's going in on their heads.