Turkey (bird)

For the familiar species, see Domestic turkey and Wild Turkey. For other uses, see Turkey (disambiguation).

"Meleagris" redirects here. For other uses, see Meleagris (disambiguation).

Turkey Temporal range:
Male Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae Gray, 1840
Subfamily:	Meleagridinae
Genus:	Meleagris Linnaeus, 1758
Species
M. gallopavo M. ocellata

A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species. The other living species is Meleagris ocellata or the Ocellated Turkey, native to the forests of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Turkeys are classed in the taxonomic order of Galliformes. Within this order they are relatives of the grouse family or subfamily. Males of both species have a distinctive fleshy wattle or protuberance that hangs from the top of the beak—called a snood in the Wild Turkey and its domestic descendants. They are among the largest birds in their ranges. As in many galliform species, the male (tom or gobbler) is larger and much more colorful than the female (hen).

History and naming

When Europeans first encountered turkeys on the American continent, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl (Numididae). Guineafowl were also known as turkey fowl (or turkey hen and turkey cock) because they were imported to Central Europe through Turkey. The name turkey fowl, shortened to just the name of the country, stuck as the name of the American bird. In Turkish, the bird is referred to as "hindi."

The confusion between these kinds of birds from related, but different, families is also reflected in the scientific name for the turkey genus: meleagris (Template:Polytonic) is Greek for guineafowl. Two major reasons why the name 'turkey fowl' stuck to Meleagris rather than to the Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris) were the genuine belief that the newly-discovered Americas were in fact a part of Asia, and the tendency during that time to attribute exotic animals and foods to a place that symbolized far-off, exotic lands.

Several other birds, which are sometimes called turkeys, are not particularly closely related: the Australian Brushturkey is a megapode, and the bird sometimes known as the "Australian Turkey" is the Australian Bustard, a gruiform. The bird sometimes called a Water Turkey is the Anhinga (Anhinga rufa), from the shape of its tail when the feathers are fully spread for drying.

Names given to a group of turkeys include colevey, rafter, gobble, and flock.

Names in other countries

full article: List of names for the Wild Turkey

• Americans and other English speakers call turkey "turkey" because they thought it came from Turkey.

• The Turks call it "Hindi" because they thought it came from India or possibly it refferred to the West Indies.

• The Indians call either "Turkey" or Peru because they believed it came from Peru.

• The Peruvians call it "pavo," similar to their word for "peacock"

• The Mexicans call it "guajolote," a Spanish derivative of the Aztec word "huehxolotl" where the bird was originally from.

Fossil record

Male Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata

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 and fairly often found, and turkeys show great 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 and it is believed its demise was due to the combined pressures of climate change at the end of the last glacial period and hunting.

Turkeys known from fossils

• Meleagris sp. (Early Pliocene of Bone Valley, U.S.)
• Meleagris sp. (Late Pliocene of Macasphalt Shell Pit, U.S.)
• Meleagris californica (Late Pleistocene of SW U.S.)—formerly Parapavo/Pavo
• Meleagris crassipes (Late Pleistocene of SW North America)

Turkeys have been considered by many authorities to be their own family—the Meleagrididae—but a recent genomic analyses of a retrotransposon marker groups turkeys in the family Phasianidae.

References

• Madge and McGowan. Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse. ISBN 0-7136-3966-0.
• National Geographic Society (2002). Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. ISBN 0792268776.
• Porter, W. F. (1994). "Family Meleagrididae (Turkeys)". In del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 2. New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 364–375. ISBN 8487334156.
• Shore, Randy (3 February 2010). "B.C. researchers carve into today's turkeys through DNA tracking". The Montréal Gazette (Canwest News Service).