What the science says about the unusual story of Mike, the chicken that lived a year and a half without a head

It happened on September 10, 1945. Clara Olsen sent her husband Lloyd to her farm in Frita (Colorado). The man had to kill a chicken as he usually does, beheading him so that Clara would clean it later. But that day something did not work out the same. The chicken that had to die was still alive, but with no head.

As we said, Lloyd Olsen went in search of a chicken for dinner. She wanted to please her mother-in-law, so she noticed a five-and-a-half-month-old Wyandotte chicken they called Mike. The man pointed with his ax trying to leave most of the neck, took impulse and beheaded the animal.

The blow had been apparently accurate, although it did not reach the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brainstem intact. However, what was unusual was that Mike was still standing. Although with some clumsiness, the animal moved and maintained the balance. He even tried to peck for food, although, of course, he had no bill.

Lloyd Olsen decided to return to the house. The man thought that the next day Mike would have died without remedy. When he went to the farm in the morning, the man could not believe it. Mike was still alive, headless, but he moved normally. Olsen thought this was a miracle and decided to leave him alive and take care of him.

From then on, this strange bird was fed by the Olsen family with a mixture of milk and water directly through the esophagus by means of a dropper. In addition, they cleaned the mucus of his throat with a syringe.

In a very short time he became famous in the area. First in local newspapers, then as part of several shows in Salt Lake City. The media and science also heard the story. Life Magazine interviewed the Olsen and the University of Utah submitted to several studies certifying that yes, it was a live chicken without head.

In March 1947, at a motel in Phoenix during a stopover on Mike's tour, the animal began to drown in the middle of the night. The Olsen had forgotten their food and their cleaning syringes in the shed the day before, so they could not save it.

How could a headless chicken stay alive for 18 months?

Science and Mike

Let's see, the normal thing when a chicken is decapitated is that its brain is disconnected from the rest of the body. For a short time the circuits of the spinal cord contain residual oxygen. Chickens are usually lying when this occurs. Only in some cases the neurons cause the motor system to be activated.

Without the contribution of the brain, the circuits of the spinal cord are "started" spontaneously. Yes, the neurons become active and the legs begin to move, but the chicken should run for a short time. In any case, we talked about minutes, not 18 months as Mike lasted.

After his death, doctors determined that the ax had not reached the carotid artery and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding. Although most of his head was severed, much of his brain stem and one of his ears had been left intact. Since the basic functions (respiration and heart rate), as well as most of the reflex actions of a chicken, are controlled by the brainstem, Mike was able to remain in good health.

Further research perfected this theory. The "miracle" was possible because 80% of its brain mass - and almost everything that controls the body of the chicken, including the heart rhythm, the breathing, the hunger and the digestion - remained intact.

Although it was suggested at the time that it survived because part or all of the brain stem was still attached to the body, over the years science evolved and discovered that what was called a brainstem was part of the brain itself.

-- Kakawote --

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