Fowl Portrait
by Geri Glavis
Title
Fowl Portrait
Artist
Geri Glavis
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Turkey photograph by Geri Glavis.
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 Yucat�n 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 galliformes, the male (tom or gobbler) is larger and much more colorful than the female (hen). Genus Meleagris is the only genus in the subfamily Meleagridinae, formerly known as the family Meleagrididae, but now subsumed within the family Phasianidae.
When Europeans first encountered turkeys in America, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl (Numididae). Guinea-fowl 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 America was in fact a part of Asia, and the tendency during that time to attribute exotic animals and foods to places that symbolized far-off, exotic lands.
In many countries, the name for turkeys has a different derivation (see List of names for the Wild Turkey).
Several other birds, which are sometimes called turkeys, are not particularly closely related: the Australian Brushturkey is a megapode, and the bird sometimes known as the "Australian Turkey" is the Australian Bustard, a gruiform. The Anhinga (Anhinga rufa) is sometimes called the Water Turkey, from the shape of its tail when the feathers are fully spread for drying.
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June 8th, 2013
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