Turkey (bird)
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 and 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.
The genus Meleagris was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The genus name is from the Ancient Greek μελεαγρις, meleagris meaning "guineafowl".[2] The type species is the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo).[3]
Turkeys are classed in the family Phasianidae (pheasants, partridges, francolins, junglefowl, grouse, and relatives thereof) in the taxonomic order Galliformes.[4] The genus Meleagris is the only extant genus in the tribe Meleagridini, formerly known as the family Meleagrididae or subfamily Meleagridinae, but now subsumed within the subfamily Phasianinae.[5][6][7]
According to linguist Mario Pei, there are two possible explanations for the name turkey.[12] One theory is that when Europeans first encountered turkeys in America, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl, which were already being imported into Europe by Turkey merchants via Constantinople and were therefore nicknamed Turkey coqs (Middle Eastern merchants were called Turkey merchants as much of that area was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time). The name of the North American bird thus became turkey fowl or Indian turkeys, which was then shortened to just turkeys.[12][13][14]
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; hence Turkey-cocks and Turkey-hens, and soon thereafter, turkeys.[12][15]
