On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, United States, was planning to eat supper with his mother-in-law and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken.

The axe removed the bulk of the head, but missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.

[2][5] Once his fame had been established, Mike began a career of touring sideshows in the company of such other anomalies as a two-headed baby.

[2] In March 1947, at a motel in Phoenix, Arizona on a stopover while traveling back from tour, Mike started choking on his mucus in the middle of the night.

[4][7] The Olsens had inadvertently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow the day before, and so were unable to save Mike.

This is a good example of central motor generators enabling basic homeostatic functions to be carried out in the absence of higher brain centres.