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The '''wild turkey''' ('''''Meleagris gallopavo''''') is an [[upland game bird]] native to [[North America]], one of two extant species of [[Turkey (bird)|turkey]] and the heaviest member of the order [[Galliformes]]. It is the ancestor to the [[domestic turkey]] (''M. g. domesticus''), which was originally derived from a southern Mexican [[subspecies]] of wild turkey (not the related [[ocellated turkey]]).
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The [[Californian turkey]] (''Meleagris californica'') is an extinct species of [[turkey (bird)|turkey]] indigenous to the [[Pleistocene]] and early [[Holocene]] of [[California]]. It became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The present Californian wild turkey population derives from wild birds re-introduced during the 1960s and 1970s from other areas by game officials.<ref>California Department of Fish and Game. [http://www.dfg.ca.gov/publications/docs/turkeyguide.pdf Wild Turkey Guide 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081027032554/http://www.dfg.ca.gov/publications/docs/turkeyguide.pdf |date=2008-10-27 }}.</ref> They proliferated after 2000 to become an everyday sight in the East [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]] by 2015.<ref name=rub>{{cite web |last1=Rubio |first1=Tena |date=November 27, 2015 |title=Like It or Not, Wild Turkeys Proliferate in East Bay |url=http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/11/27/like-it-or-not-wild-turkeys-proliferate-in-east-bay |website=kqed.org |access-date=27 November 2015 |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208113108/http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/11/27/like-it-or-not-wild-turkeys-proliferate-in-east-bay |url-status=live }}</ref>
At the beginning of the 20th century the range and numbers of wild turkeys had plummeted due to hunting and loss of habitat. When Europeans arrived in the New World, they were found from the southeastern US to Mexico. Turkeys were first domesticated by native peoples in Mexico and brought back to Europe during colonization. European settlers brought domesticated turkeys to the northern portions of North America during the 17th century. Habitat loss and market hunting were major factors in the decline of wild populations for the next two centuries.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
Game managers estimate that the entire population of wild turkeys in the United States was as low as 30,000 by the late 1930s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Andrew F.|chapter=The Fall and Rise of the Edible Turkey|title=Wild Food: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2004|editor-last=Hosking|editor-first=Richard|location=Totnes, Devon, UK|publisher=Prospect Books|date=2006|page=298|isbn=9781903018439|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=juAabiJpnn0C|access-date=2017-11-22|archive-date=2016-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509024445/https://books.google.com/books?id=juAabiJpnn0C|url-status=live}}</ref> By the 1940s, it was almost totally extirpated from [[Canada]] and had become localized in pockets in the United States, in the north-east effectively restricted to the [[Appalachians]], only as far north as central Pennsylvania. Early attempts used hand reared birds, a practice that failed miserably as the birds were unable to survive in the wild at all and many had imprinted far too much on humans to effectively survive. Game officials later made efforts to protect and encourage the breeding of the surviving wild population. They would wait for numbers to grow, catch the surplus birds with a device that would have a projectile net that would ensnare the creature, move it to another unoccupied territory, and repeat the cycle. Over time this included some in the western states where it was not native. There is evidence that the bird does well when near farmland, which provides grain and also berry-bearing shrubs at its edges.<ref name=Dickson>{{cite book |last1=Dickson |first1=James G. |title=The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management |series=National Wild Turkey Federation and USDA Forest Service book |year=1992 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=9780811718592 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oVICEKm1U04C&pg=PA362
Attempts to introduce the wild turkey to [[Great Britain|Britain]] as a game bird in the 18th century were not successful.{{efn|These birds were imported from [[Mexico]], then called the [[Spanish West Indies]]. They did not come from Turkey or India, as was widely believed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/turkey.htm |title=Talking Turkey |website=World Wide Words |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207215349/http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/turkey.htm |archive-date=2006-12-07}}</ref>}} [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] is said to have had a flock of a few thousand in [[Richmond Park]] near London, but they were too easy for local [[poaching|poachers]] to destroy, and the fights with poachers became too dangerous for the [[gamekeeper]]s. They were hunted with dogs and then shot out of trees where they took refuge. Several other populations, introduced or escaped, have survived for periods elsewhere in Britain and [[Ireland]], but seem to have died out, perhaps from a combination of lack of winter feed and poaching.<ref name=Dickson/>{{rp|363}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maxwell |first1=William Hamilton |title=The field book; or, Sports and pastimes of the British islands, by the author of Wild sports of the West |pages=540 |location=London |year=1833 |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldbookorspor00unkngoog/page/n551}}</ref> Small populations, probably descended from farm as well as wild stock, in the [[Czech Republic]] and [[Germany]] have been more successful, and there are wild populations of some size following introductions in [[Hawaii]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref name=Dickson/>{{rp|363-368}}
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The wild turkey, throughout its range, plays a significant role in the cultures of many [[Native American tribe]]s all over North America. It is a favorite meal in eastern tribes. Eastern Native American tribes consumed both the eggs and meat, sometimes turning the latter into a type of jerky to preserve it and make it last through cold weather. They provided habitat by burning down portions of forests to create meadows which would attract mating birds, and thus give a clear shot to hunters. The feathers of turkeys also often made their way into the rituals and headgear of many tribes. Many leaders, such as [[Catawba (tribe)|Catawba]] chiefs, traditionally wore turkey feather headdresses.<ref name=Pritzker>{{cite book |last1=Pritzker |first1=Barry M. |title=A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19-513877-1}}</ref>{{rp|367}}
Significant peoples of several tribes, including [[Muscogee Creek]] and [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoag]], wore turkey feather cloaks.<ref name=Pritzker/>{{rp|381, 474}} The turkey clan is one of the three [[Lenape]] clans.<ref name=Pritzker/>{{rp|423}} Movements of wild turkeys inspired the [[Caddo]] tribe's [[turkey dance]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/voices/today.html |title=Caddo Nation Today |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113071330/http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/voices/today.html |archive-date=2010-11-13 |
==See also==
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