Cladus: Eukaryota Name Meleagris Linnaeus, 1758 Reference Systema Naturae ed.10 p.156 Vernacular names 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. There are several extinct species dating from as far back as 23 million years ago.[1] Turkeys are classed in the taxonomic order of Galliformes. Within this order they are relatives of the grouse family or subfamily. Turkeys 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 1.0–1.8 metres (3.3–5.9 ft), the turkeys are by far the largest birds in the open forests in which they live. 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), also known as turkey fowl (or turkey hen and turkey cock), due to the birds' importation to Central Europe through Turkey. That name, shortened to just the name of the country, stuck as the name of the American bird.[2][3][4] 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 guinea fowl (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. (The Ottoman Empire, where Turkey was located, represented the exotic East.)[original research?] 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), from the shape of its own spread of tail feathers when fully deployed for drying. The domesticated turkey is attributed to Aztec agriculture, and originated from the South Mexican subspecies M.g. gallopavo found in the area bounded by the present states of Jalisco, Guerrero, and Veracruz.[5] Names given to a group of turkeys include rafter, gobble, and flock.[6] Flight While large domesticated turkeys are generally unable to fly, smaller, lighter domesticated turkeys known as "heritage turkeys" and "wild turkeys" can fly. 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 up to 100 yards (90 m) and perching in tree branches. Turkey poults (goblets) cannot fly for the first two weeks after hatching. Fossil record 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.[1] 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,[7] became extinct recently enough to have been hunted by early human settlers[8] 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.[9] The modern species and the California Turkey seem to have diverged approximately one million years ago. Turkeys known from fossils * Meleagris sp. (Early Pliocene of Bone Valley, U.S.) 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.[10] Footnotes 1. ^ a b Donald Stanley Farner and James R. King (1971). Avian biology. Boston: Academic Press. ISBN 0122494083. References Source: Wikipedia, Wikispecies: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
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