oesophagus
奇跡の鶏と呼ばれるミラクルマイクに関する記事です。この鶏は，頭を完全に切断された状態にもかからず，18ヶ月間生き続けました。ギネスにも，首がないまま最も長生きした鶏として記録されたようです。マイクの所有者は，首を切断して1日が過ぎても動いていたため，食べるのはやめて飼うことにしたそうです。餌はスポイトで，直接体内に入れておりました。
記事の中で気になった単語は"oesophagus"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）によると「〘英〙＝esophagus」とあります。"esophagus"は「〘解剖〙食道」を意味する単語です。解剖学内での専門用語のようですね。「食道」には，"gullet"という表現も用いられます。（Ume）
The chicken that lived for 18 months without a head
Mike was fed with liquid food and water that the Olsens dropped directly into his oesophagus. Another vital bodily function they helped with was clearing mucus from his throat. They fed him with a dropper, and cleared his throat with a syringe.
The night Mike died, they were woken in their motel room by the sound of the bird choking. When they looked for the syringe they realised they had left it at the sideshow, and before they could find an alternative, Mike suffocated.
"For years he would claim he had sold [the chicken] to a guy in the sideshow circuit," Waters says, before pausing. "It wasn't until, well, a few years before he died that he finally admitted to me one night that it died on him. I think he didn't ever want to admit he screwed up and let the proverbial goose that lays golden eggs die on him."
Olsen would never tell what he did with the dead bird. "I'm willing to bet he got flipped out in the desert somewhere between here and Phoenix, on the side of the road, probably eaten by coyotes," Waters says.
