At the risk of self-YARTing, I'll repost my link to http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org. He lived for 18 months after the ax blow that was designed to kill him only took off his head *above* the brain stem (which controls a chicken's reflex actions). He had to be fed by eyedropper, and they had to clear his esophagus periodically - but he seems to have been quite an attraction there for a while in the 40s.