Turkey (Bird)

The turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris, which is native to the Americas. Males of both turkey species have a distinctive fleshy wattle or protuberance that hangs from the top of the beak (called a snood). They are among the largest birds in their ranges. As in many galliformes, the male is larger and much more colorful than the female.

Taxonomy
Turkeys are classed in the family of Phasianidae (pheasants, partridges, francolins, junglefowl, grouse, and relatives thereof) in the taxonomic order of Galliformes.[1]  The genus Meleagris is the only extant genus in the subfamily Meleagridinae, formerly known as the family Meleagrididae, but now subsumed within the family Phasianidae.

History and naming
Turkeys were domesticated in ancient Mexico, for food and/or for their cultural and symbolic significance.[4]  The Aztecs, for example, had a name for the turkey, wueh-xōlō-tl (guajolote in Spanish), a word still used in modern Mexico in addition to the general term pavo. Spanish chroniclers, including Bernal Diaz del Castillo and Father Bernardino de Sahagun, describe the multitude of food (both raw fruits and vegetables as well as prepared dishes) that were offered in the vast markets (tianguis) of Tenochtitlán, noting there were tamales made of turkey, iguana, chocolate, vegetables, fruit, and more. The ancient people of Mexico had not only domesticated the turkey but had apparently developed sophisticated recipes including these ingredients—many used to this day—over hundreds of years.

There are two theories for the derivation of the name "turkey", according to Columbia University professor of Romance languages Mario Pei.[5]  One theory is that when Europeans first encountered turkeys in America, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl, which were already being imported into Europe by Turkey merchants via Constantinople and were therefore nicknamed Turkey coqs. The name of the North American bird thus became "turkey fowl" or "Indian turkeys", which was then shortened to just "turkeys".[5] [6] [7]

A second theory arises from turkeys coming to England not directly from the Americas, but via merchant ships from the Middle East, where they were domesticated successfully. Again the importers lent the name to the bird; Middle Eastern merchants were called "Turkey merchants" as much of that area was part of the Ottoman Empire. Hence the name "Turkey-cocks" and "Turkey-hens", and soon thereafter, "turkeys".[5] [8]

In 1550, the English navigator William Strickland, who had introduced the turkey into England, was granted a coat of arms including a "turkey-cock in his pride proper".[9]  William Shakespeare used the term in Twelfth Night,[10]  believed to be written in 1601 or 1602. The lack of context around his usage suggests that the term was already widespread .[citation needed]

Other countries have other names for turkeys. Many of these names incorporate an assumed Indian origin, such as dinde ("from India") in French, индюшка (indyushka) ("bird of India") in Russia, indyk in Poland, and Hindi ("India") in Turkey. These are thought to arise from the supposed belief of Christopher Columbus that he had reached India rather than the Americas on his voyage.[5]  In Portuguese a turkey is a peru; the name is thought to derive from the eponymous country Peru.[11]

Several other birds that are sometimes called turkeys are not particularly closely related: the brushturkeys are megapodes, and the bird sometimes known as the "Australian turkey" is the Australian bustard (Ardeotis australis). The anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) is sometimes called a water turkey, from the shape of its tail when the feathers are fully spread for drying.

An infant turkey is called a "chick" or "poult".

Human conflicts with wild turkeys
Turkeys have been known to be aggressive toward humans and pets in residential areas.[12]  Wild turkeys have a social structure and pecking order and habituated turkeys may respond to humans and animals as they do to another turkey. Habituated turkeys may attempt to dominate or attack people that the birds view as subordinates.[13]

The town of Brookline, Massachusetts, recommends that citizens be aggressive toward the turkeys, take a step towards them, and not back down. Brookline officials have also recommended "making noise (clanging pots or other objects together); popping open an umbrella; shouting and waving your arms; squirting them with a hose; allowing your leashed dog to bark at them; and forcefully fending them off with a broom."[14]

Fossil record
A number of turkeys have been described from fossils. The Meleagridinae 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.[3]  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,<sup id="cite_ref-15">[15]  became extinct recently enough to have been hunted by early human settlers.<sup id="cite_ref-16">[16]  It has been suggested that its demise was due to the combined pressures of human hunting and climate change at the end of the last glacial period.<sup id="cite_ref-17">[17]

The Oligocene fossil Meleagris antiquus was first described by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1871. It has since been reassigned to the genus Paracrax, first interpreted as a cracid, then soon after as a bathornithid Cariamiformes.

Fossils
Turkeys have been considered by many authorities to be their own family—the Meleagrididae—but a recent genomic analysis of a retrotransposon marker groups turkeys in the family Phasianidae.<sup id="cite_ref-Jan_18-0">[18]  In 2010, a team of scientists published a draft sequence of the domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) genome.<sup id="cite_ref-19">[19]
 * 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)

Use by humans
See also: Domestic turkey and Turkey as food The species Meleagris gallopavo is used by humans for their meat. They were first domesticated by the indigenous people of Mexico from at least 800 BC onwards. These domesticates were then either introduced into what is now the US Southwest or independently domesticated a second time by the indigenous people of that region by 200 BC, at first being used for their feathers, which were used in ceremonies and to make robes and blankets.<sup id="cite_ref-discovery_20-0">[20]  Turkeys were first used for meat by Native Americans by about AD 1100.<sup id="cite_ref-discovery_20-1">[20]  Compared to wild turkeys, domestic turkeys are selectively bred to grow larger in size for their meat.<sup id="cite_ref-OneKind-turkey-fact_21-0">[21] <sup id="cite_ref-pbs-turkey-wild-domestic_22-0">[22]  Americans often eat turkey on special occasions such as at Thanksgiving or Christmas.<sup id="cite_ref-why-turkey-eat_23-0">[23] <sup id="cite_ref-wonderopolis-turkey-thanksgiving_24-0">[24]

The Norfolk turkeys
In her written memoirs Lady Dorothy Nevill (1826-1913)<sup id="cite_ref-NEVILL_25-0">[25]  recalls that her great-grandfather Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1723-1809), imported a quantity of American turkeys<sup id="cite_ref-NEVILL_25-1">[25]  which were kept in the woods around Wolterton Hall and in all probability were the embryo flock for the popular Norfolk turkey breeds of today.