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There's more to a turkey than just a drumstick (no, not stuffing!)
Published 11/21/2007 in News : Columns
This week many of us have devoted a lot of attention to a grand bird -- the turkey. As you may have heard before, Benjamin Franklin once wrote that he would prefer to have the wild turkey recognized as the national bird rather than the bald eagle.
So what's this bird all about? In the past, the wild turkey could be found widely across North America. They are a polygynous species with adult males often having up to five females in their group. A robust bird, the wild turkey spends most of its time on the ground. They roost in trees at night, except during the breeding season when the females will nest on the ground. Turkeys will run to safety when disturbed, flying only if they run out of options. In spite of its comparatively tiny wings, the wild turkey is a powerful flier and can reach 50 mph or more for short bursts. Males use lavish displays, showing off their iridescent colors to the utmost, to attract potential mates.
The female tends a nest that is at times no more than an area of scraped ground under a bush. Multiple females may share the same nest. For four weeks the female tends the eggs until they hatch. Many of the poults (young turkeys) will not survive. They will fall victim to the things that challenge most young wildlife -- disease, predators and the weather. The vast population of wild turkeys of the past was challenged by habitat loss and over-hunting and was drastically decreased in the early 1900s.
Through the relocation of wild birds and captive-breeding programs, the population has seen a resurgence. The wild turkey is now found scattered across the United States and northern parts of Mexico and has been introduced to several provinces in Canada.
The North American wild turkey is the largest living member of an order of birds called galliformes. Other birds in that group include guineafowl, megapodes, quail, pheasants and more. It is an order represented by more than 250 species found worldwide. Game birds, as this group is often called, are found in all sizes, from the wild turkey at 30.5 pounds to the
Asian blue quail at 1 to 1.4 ounces. They are found in a variety of environments, from grasslands (prairie chickens, vulturine guineafowl of Africa) to the tropical forests of Asia (giant argus, crested fireback pheasant) and to the arctic and subarctic regions (ptarmigan). Many galliform species are currently decreasing in number just like the North American wild turkey did in the past. The major threat to the various populations is habitat loss. For some species (i.e. green peafowl, blue-billed currasow, white-winged guan) over-hunting also is a major issue just as it was for the wild turkey. A number of gallinaceous species can be found in zoos or in the hands of private collectors or breeders.
In AZA zoos, there are currently two species survival plans or SSPs (one for Atwater's prairie chicken and the other for congo peafowl) and 13 population management plans (PMPs) covering this order of birds with more programs possible in the future. If you'd like to see some representative birds of this order and maybe walk off some of the holiday feast from Thursday, visit the zoo.
During your visit, if you plan on looking for the members of the game bird order, I'll give you a hint: look at Wild Asia.
A few parting comments on the wild turkey: wild turkeys have more than 3,000 feathers; in the absence of a tom (a male turkey), the female (a hen) can still reproduce through a process known as parthenogenesis; a turkey is no slouch at running -- it can reach speeds up to 25 mph; the color of a turkey's head and neck can change if it's distressed or excited; a group of turkeys is called a rafter; and that fleshy thing that hangs down from the base of a turkey's beak, and gets very long on toms, is called a snood.
Visit our award-winning Web site at www.garden-city.org/zoo.
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