[SEMIH] About Turkey!

Day 1,581, 16:10 • Published in USA Cyprus • by Kutluk Bilge Kul anthrax

Turkey is no longer a member of Semih Alliance. We Semih HQ are still arguing their situtation and in this term Turkey's membership is suspended for a while.

Here some facts about turkey, please read all of them carefully because you can figure out everything about turkey.



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.[1]

Turkeys are classed in the taxonomic order of Galliformes. Within this order they are relatives of the grouse family or subfamily. Males of both species have a distinctive fleshy wattle or protuberance that hangs from the top of the beak—called a snood in the Wild Turkey and its domestic descendants. They are among the largest birds in their ranges. 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 in the Americas, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl (Numididae). Guineafowl were also known as turkey fowl (or turkey hen and turkey cock) because they were imported to Central Europe through Turkey. The name turkey fowl, shortened to just the name of the country, stuck as the name of the North American bird.[2][3][4] In 1550, 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".[5]

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 Helmeted Guineafowl (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.

In many countries, the name for turkeys refers to some other country. See List of names for the Wild Turkey.

Several other birds, which are sometimes called turkeys, are not particularly closely relate😛 the Australian Brushturkey is a megapode, and the bird sometimes known as the "Australian Turkey" is the Australian Bustard, a gruiform. The bird sometimes called a Water Turkey is the Anhinga (Anhinga rufa), from the shape of its tail when the feathers are fully spread for drying.

Fossil record
Male Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata

Many turkeys have been described from fossils.
Male Turkey

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,[6] became extinct recently enough to have been hunted by early human settlers[7] 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.[8]

References

^ a b Donald Stanley Farner and James R. King (1971). Avian biology. Boston: Academic Press. ISBN 0122494083.
^ Webster's II New College Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2005, ISBN 9780618396016, p. 1217
^ Andrew F. Smith: The Turkey: An American Story. University of Illinois Press 2006, ISBN 9780252031632, p. 17
^ "Why A Turkey Is Called A Turkey : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR". npr.org. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
^ Bruce Thomas Boehrer (2011). Animal characters: nonhuman beings in early modern literature p.141. University of Pennsylvania Press
^ Formerly Parapavo californica and initially described as Pavo californica or "California Peacock"
^ Jack Broughton (1999). Resource depression and intensification during the late Holocene, San Francisco Bay: evidence from the Emeryville Shellmound vertebrate fauna. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09828-5.; lay summary
^ Bochenski, Z. M., and K. E. Campbell, Jr. 2006. The extinct California Turkey, Meleagris californica, from Rancho La Brea: Comparative osteology and systematics. Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Number 509:92 pp.