Wild Turkey

Last month I spotted a few Wild Turkeys foraging around Vista Lake at Duke Farms. 

Taxonomically the Wild Turkey is grouped with the grouses, their closest relatives after the Ocellated Turkey. They're also in the pheasant family, so more distant relatives include partridges, chickens, peafowl, and quail. 

Though the domesticated turkey is the same species as the ones you see in the wild, it had a somewhat circuitous route to get here. A different subspecies of our Eastern Wild Turkeys, the South Mexican Wild Turkey, was domesticated by the Aztecs. When Conquistadors conquered the Aztecs, they brought these Domestic Turkeys to Spain where they spread to Europe. Later settlers like the British then brought them back to the US. Somewhat oddly, the South Mexican Wild Turkey was one of the smallest subspecies of Wild Turkey, but after selective breeding the Domestic Turkey is actually much larger than any of the original Wild Turkey subspecies. (They're also considered much stupider than their wild cousins.)

August 31, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 229848989, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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