Turkey (bird)

This article is about all species of turkey. For its meat, see Turkey meat. For other uses, see Turkey (disambiguation) § Other common meanings.

Turkey
Temporal range: 23–0 Ma Early Miocene – Recent
A male wild turkey strutting
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Subfamily: Phasianinae
Tribe: Tetraonini
Genus: Meleagris
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Meleagris gallopavo (wild turkey)
Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Egg of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

The turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris, native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Males of both turkey species have a distinctive fleshy wattle, called a snood, that hangs from the top of the beak. They are among the largest birds in their ranges. As with many large ground-feeding birds (order Galliformes), the male is bigger and much more colorful than the female.

The earliest turkeys evolved in North America over 20 million years ago. They share a recent common ancestor with grouse, pheasants, and other fowl. The wild turkey species is the ancestor of the domestic turkey, which was domesticated approximately 2,000 years ago by indigenous peoples. It was this domesticated turkey that later reached Eurasia, during the Columbian exchange.

In English, the name "turkey" probably comes from birds being brought to Britain by merchants trading to Turkey and thus becoming known as turkey coqs or turkey-cocks.[1] This happened first to guinea fowl native to Madagascar, and then to the domesticated turkeys themselves which looked similar.[2][3] This name prevailed for the turkeys, and was then transferred to the New World bird by English colonizers with knowledge of the previous species.[4]

A male ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) with a blue head
  1. ^ Dickson, 362; "Why a Turkey Is Called a Turkey" Archived 2016-04-11 at the Wayback Machine. Npr.org. Retrieved on 2012-12-19.
  2. ^ Webster's II New College Dictionary Archived 2019-03-17 at the Wayback Machine. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2005, ISBN 978-0-618-39601-6, p. 1217
  3. ^ Andrew F. Smith (2006). The Turkey: An American Story Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine. University of Illinois Press 2006, ISBN 978-0-252-03163-2, p. 17.
  4. ^ Forsyth, Mark (27 November 2013). "Opinion | The Turkey's Turkey Connection". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2020.