The Turkey

May 24, 2009 Features / Columnists, Interesting Creatures in Guyana

A Turkey

The turkey is well known for its delicate white meat which is comparable to chicken and also qualifies to be one of the largest birds that could fly.
This creature which is either of two living species of large birds in the genus Meleagris was actually named after the country, Turkey.
One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The other species, Meleagris ocellata, known as the Ocellated Turkey, is native to the forests of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

However the Domestic turkey is a descendant of the Wild Turkey. They are rared locally and in several other countries for their meat and even as a means of keeping overgrowth away.
Turkeys are classed in the taxonomic order of Galliformes. Within this order they are relatives of the family/subfamily Tetraonidae (grouse).
They have a distinctive fleshy wattle that hangs from the underside of the beak, and a fleshy protuberance that hangs from the top of its beak called a snood. With wingspans of 1.5–1.8 metres (almost 6 feet), the turkeys are by far the largest birds in the open forests in which they live. As with many Galliform species the female (hen) is smaller than the male (tom or gobbler) and is much less colourful.

When Europeans first encountered turkeys in the Americas they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl (Numididae), also known as Turkey fowl (or Turkey hen and Turkey cock) from their importation to Central Europe through Turkey, and that name, shortened to just the name of the country, stuck as the name of the bird. The confusion between these kinds of birds from related but different families is also reflected in the scientific name for the turkey genus: meleagris which is Greek for guinea-fowl.

The names for Meleagris gallopavo in other languages also frequently reflect its exotic origins, seen from an Old World viewpoint, and add to the confusion about where turkeys actually came from.
The many references to India seen in common names go back to a combination of two factors: first, the genuine belief that the newly-discovered Americas were in fact a part of Asia, and second, the tendency during that time to attribute exotic animals and foods to a place that symbolized far-off, exotic lands. The latter is reflected in terms like “Muscovy Duck” (which is from South America, not Muscovy).

This was a major reason why the name Turkey fowl stuck to Meleagris rather than to the guinea fowl (Numida meleagris): the Ottoman Empire represented the exotic East.
The name given to a group of turkeys is a rafter, although they are sometimes incorrectly referred to as a gobble or flock.
Several other birds which are sometimes called turkeys are not particularly closely related: the Australian Brush-turkey is a megapode, and the bird sometimes known as the “Australian Turkey” is in fact the Australian Bustard, a gruiform. The bird sometimes called a Water Turkey is actually an Anhinga (Anhinga rufa).

And while large domesticated turkeys are generally unable to fly, smaller, lighter domesticated turkeys known as heritage turkeys and wild turkeys can fly well enough. In domesticated turkeys, the ability to fly depends directly on weight, while even heavy adult wild turkeys can fly well enough to avoid predators by taking off and flying for horizontal distances of up to 100 yards and to perch in the branches of trees. Turkey poults (chicks) are unable to fly for the first two weeks after they hatch.

Many turkeys have been described from fossils. The Meleagrididae are known from the Early Miocene (c. 23 mya) onwards, with the extinct genera Rhegminornis (Early Miocene of Bell, U.S.) and Proagriocharis (Kimball Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lime Creek, U.S.). The former is probably a basal turkey, the other a more contemporary bird not very similar to known turkeys; both were much smaller birds. A turkey fossil not assignable to genus but similar to Meleagris is known from the Late Miocene of Westmoreland County, Virginia.

In the modern genus Meleagris, a considerable number of species have been described, as turkey fossils are robust, fairly often found, and turkeys show much variation among individuals. Many of these supposed fossilized species are now considered junior synonyms. One, the well-documented California Turkey (Meleagris californica), became extinct recently enough to have been hunted by early human settlers. Though its actual demise is more probably attributable to climate change at the end of the last ice age, the modern species and the California Turkey seem to have diverged approximately one million years ago.