Turkey

## History and naming

Plate 1 of *The Birds of America* by John James Audubon, depicting a wild turkey

Turkeys were domesticated in ancient Mexico, for food and/or for their cultural and symbolic significance.[4] The Aztecs, for example, had a name for the turkey, *wueh-xōlō-tl* (*guajolote* in Spanish), a word still used in modern Mexico in addition to the general term *pavo*. Spanish chroniclers, including Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Father Bernardino de Sahagún, describe the multitude of food (both raw fruits and vegetables as well as prepared dishes) that were offered in the vast markets (*tianguis*) of Tenochtitlán, noting there were tamales made of turkey, iguana, chocolate, vegetables, fruit, and more. The ancient people of Mexico had not only domesticated the turkey but had apparently developed sophisticated recipes including these ingredients—many used to this day—over hundreds of years.

There are two theories for the derivation of the name *turkey*, according to Columbia University professor of Romance languages Mario Pei.[5] One theory is that when Europeans first encountered turkeys in America, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl, which was already being imported into Europe by Turkey merchants via Constantinople and were therefore nicknamed *Turkey coqs*. The name of the North American bird thus became *turkey fowl* or *Indian turkeys*, which was then shortened to just *turkeys*.[5][6][7]

A second theory arises from turkeys coming to England not directly from the Americas, but via merchant ships from the Middle East, where they were domesticated successfully. Again the importers lent the name to the bird; Middle Eastern merchants were called *Turkey merchants* as much of that area was part of the Ottoman Empire. Hence the name *Turkey-cocks* and *Turkey-hens*, and soon thereafter, *turkeys*.[5][8]

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".[9] William Shakespeare used the term in *Twelfth Night*,[10] believed to be written in 1601 or 1602. The lack of context around his usage suggests that the term was already widespread.[*citation needed*]

Other languages have other names for turkeys. Many of these names incorporate an assumed Indian origin, such as *dinde* ('from India') in French, индюшка (*indyushka*, 'bird of India') in Russian, *indyk* in Polish, and *hindi* ('India') in Turkish. These are thought to arise from the supposed belief of Christopher Columbus that he had reached India rather than the Americas on his voyage.[5] In Portuguese a turkey is a *peru*; the name is thought to derive from the eponymous country Peru.[11]

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.

An infant turkey is called a *chick* or *poult*.

### Human conflicts with wild turkeys

Turkeys have been known to be aggressive toward humans and pets in residential areas.[12] Wild turkeys have a social structure and pecking order and habituated turkeys may respond to humans and animals as they do to another turkey. Habituated turkeys may attempt to dominate or attack people that the birds view as subordinates.[13]

The town of Brookline, Massachusetts, recommends that citizens be aggressive toward the turkeys, take a step towards them, and not back down. Brookline officials have also recommended "making noise (clanging pots or other objects together); popping open an umbrella; shouting and waving your arms; squirting them with a hose; allowing your leashed dog to bark at them; and forcefully fending them off with a broom."[14]

## 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.[3] 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*,[15] became extinct recently enough to have been hunted by early human settlers.[16] It has been suggested that its demise was due to the combined pressures of human hunting and climate change at the end of the last glacial period.[17]

The Oligocene fossil *Meleagris antiquus* was first described by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1871. It has since been reassigned to the genus *Paracrax*, first interpreted as a cracid, then soon after as a bathornithid Cariamiformes.

### 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.)—formerly *Parapavo/Pavo*
* *Meleagris crassipes* (Late Pleistocene of SW North America)

Turkeys have been considered by many authorities to be their own family—the Meleagrididae—but a recent genomic analysis of a retrotransposon marker groups turkeys in the family Phasianidae.[18] In 2010, a team of scientists published a draft sequence of the domestic turkey (*Meleagris gallopavo*) genome.[19]

## Anatomy

Anatomical structures on the head and throat of a domestic turkey. 1. Caruncles, 2. Snood, 3. Wattle (Dewlap), 4. Major caruncle, 5. Beard

In anatomical terms, the **snood** is an erectile, fleshy protuberance on the forehead of turkeys. Most of the time when the turkey is in a relaxed state, the snood is pale and 2–3 cm long. However, when the male begins strutting (the courtship display), the snood engorges with blood, becomes redder, and elongates several centuries hanging well below the beak (see image).[20][21]

Snoods are just one of the caruncles (small, fleshy excrescences) that can be found on turkeys.

While fighting, commercial turkeys often peck and pull at the snood, causing damage and bleeding. This often leads to further injurious pecking by other turkeys and sometimes results in cannibalism. To prevent this, some farmers cut off the snood when the chick is young, a process known as desnooding.

The snood can be between one and six inches in length depending on the turkey's sex, health, and mood.[22]

### Function

The snood functions in both intersexual and intrasexual selection. Captive female wild turkeys prefer to mate with long-snooded males, and during dyadic interactions, male turkeys defer to males with relatively longer snoods. These results were demonstrated using both live males and controlled artificial models of males. Data on the parasite burdens of free-living wild turkeys revealed a negative correlation between snood length and infection with intestinal coccidia, deleterious protozoan parasites. This indicates that in the wild, the long-snooded males preferred by females and avoided by males seemed to be resistant to coccidial infection.[23]