Pavos
Turkeys are a family of bird in the genus Meleagris, consisted of two species, namely, Wild Turkey and Ocellated Turkey. They are like a chicken but much bigger. Wild turkeys live in forests in North America and Central America. This bird was domesticated in Mexico by Mesoamericans and brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century. When people from Europe first saw turkeys in the Americas they thought the birds were a type of Guinea Fowl. This bird had been brought to central Europe from the country of Turkey. The name of that country stuck as the name of the bird. In the United States, people traditionally eat turkey on the holiday of Thanksgiving.
Some more interesting or fun facts about a turkey bird:
- Turkeys lived almost ten million years ago.
- The Native Americans hunted wild turkey for its sweet and juicy meat as early as 1000 A.D.
- Wild Turkey were almost wiped out in the early 1900's. As a result of numerous reintroduction efforts since 1950s, today there are wild turkeys in every state except of Alaska.
- Wild turkeys spend the night in trees. They prefer oak trees.
- Wild turkeys can fly for short distances up to 55 mph.
- Turkeys can see movement almost 100 yards (91.44 meters) away.
- In 2022 Turkey officials announced changing the English name of the country to "Türkiye" in order to dissociate it from the bird of the same name.
Sources:
https://web.extension.illinois.edu/turkey/turkey_facts.cfm https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_(bird)
