Turkey (bird)

The turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris, which is native to the Americas. One species, Meleagris gallopavo (commonly known as the wild turkey or domestic turkey), is native to the forests of North America, mainly Mexico and the United States. The other living species is Meleagris ocellata or the ocellated turkey, native to the forests of the Yucatán Peninsula. 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) in the taxonomic order of Galliformes. The genus Meleagris is the only genus in the subfamily Meleagridinae, formerly known as the family Meleagrididae but now subsumed within the family Phasianidae.

History and naming

When Europeans first encountered turkeys in America, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl â€" i.e., as members of a group of birds which were thought to typically come from the country of Turkey. The name of the North American bird thus became "turkey fowl", which was then shortened to just "turkey". 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".

However, it is also reported that the name is derived from the fact the first European explorers to discover (and eat) turkey were those in Hernán Cortés’s expedition in Mexico in 1519. This new delicacy was brought back to Europe by Spanish Conquistadors and by 1524 were being domesticated for food in the eastern Aegean Sea. So the birds did not come directly from the New World to England; rather, they came via merchant ships from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Those merchants were called “Turkey merchant” as much the area was part of the Ottoman Empire which had emerged as the new important Turkic state, that came to dominate not only the Middle East, but even southeastern Europe, parts of southwestern Russia, and northern Africa. Purchasers of the birds in England thought the fowl came from the area, hence the name “Turkey birds” or, soon thereafter, “turkeys.” as they came from the Middle East where it was domesticated successfully by Muslim farmers. This led to Christian Europeans labeling these farmers as people of Turkey and the goods which they traded in were labeled "Turkey goods", including “Turkey birds” for any birds which they traded. This name was then applied to the turkey and then rapidly spread across Europe (and beyond) by those engaged in the "Turkey bird" trade i.e. the Turks. The Turkey name â€" “turkey” â€" had entered the English language. Case in point: William Shakespeare used the term in Twelfth Night, believed to be written in 1601 or 1602. The lack of context around his usage suggests that the term had widespread reach.

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

In many countries, the names for turkeys have different derivations.

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.

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. 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. It is believed its demise was due to the combined pressures of climate change at the end of the last glacial period and hunting.

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.)â€"formerly Parapavo/Pavo
• Meleagris crassipes (Late Pleistocene of SW North America)

Turkeys have been considered by many authorities to be their own familyâ€"the Meleagrididaeâ€"but a recent genomic analyses of a retrotransposon marker groups turkeys in the family Phasianidae. In 2010, a team of scientists published a draft sequence of the domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) genome.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• 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 0-7922-6877-6.
• 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. 364â€"375. ISBN 84-87334-15-6.
• Shore, Randy (3 February 2010). "B.C. researchers carve into today's turkeys through DNA tracking". The Montréal Gazette (Canwest News Service).

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