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Meleagris gallopavowild turkey

By Kari Kirschbaum and Jason McCullough

Ge­o­graphic Range

Wild turkeys (Me­lea­gris gal­lopavo) are one of the most widely dis­trib­uted game bird species in North Amer­ica. They are found through­out most of the east­ern United States, and in pock­ets through­out the west­ern United States. They are also found in parts of north­ern Mex­ico, par­tic­u­larly in the Sierra Nevada moun­tains. Wild turkeys have been in­tro­duced to Ger­many and New Zealand. (Eaton, 1992)

Habi­tat

Wild turkeys pre­fer hard­wood and mixed conifer-hard­wood forests with scat­tered open­ings such as pas­tures, fields, or­chards and sea­sonal marshes. (Eaton, 1992)

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Wild turkeys are large, ground-dwelling birds with long legs, long necks and large fan-shaped tails. They have short, rounded wings. Male wild turkeys have dark, iri­des­cent plumage. Their flight feath­ers are black with brown stripes and are barred with white. They have a red wat­tle (a fleshy lobe that hangs down from the chin or throat), a carun­cle (a wart-like pro­jec­tion of skin at­tached to the upper part of the fore­head), and a black­ish breast tuft. Their pink, pink­ish-gray, or sil­ver-gray legs have spurs which can grow as long as 3.2 cm. The heads of adult males (called gob­blers) are red, blue, or white de­pend­ing on the sea­son.

Fe­male wild turkeys (called hens) are smaller and duller than males. Most fe­males do not have a breast tuft. Fe­males have a gray­ish head and a feath­ered neck.

Male turkeys weigh 6.8 to 11 kg. Hens usu­ally weigh 3.6 to 5.4 kg. Weight varies con­sid­er­ably with time of year and re­source avail­abil­ity.

There are six sub­species of Me­lea­gris gal­lopavo. These sub­species dif­fer in size, plumage and dis­tri­b­u­tion. (Eaton, 1992)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • male larger
  • sexes colored or patterned differently
  • male more colorful
  • ornamentation
  • Range mass
    3.6 to 11 kg
    7.93 to 24.23 lb

Re­pro­duc­tion

Wild turkeys are polyg­y­nous. Males at­tempt to at­tract fe­males by "gob­bling" and "strut­ting" with their tail fanned out, their wings low­ered and drag­ging on the ground, their back feath­ers erect, their head thrown back and their crop in­flated. The gob­bles of male wild turkeys can be heard more than 1.5 kilo­me­ters away (or ap­prox­i­mately 1 mile). (Eaton, 1992)

Wild turkeys breed in early spring; south­ern pop­u­la­tions begin courtship in late Jan­u­ary and north­ern pop­u­la­tions begin in late Feb­ru­ary. They raise one brood per sea­son. The nest is a shal­low de­pres­sion in the ground, usu­ally sur­rounded by dense brush, vines, tan­gles, deep grass, or fallen tree tops. The fe­male scratches out the nest and lays 4 to 17 (usu­ally 8 to 15) eggs. She in­cu­bates the eggs for 25 to 31 days. The chicks are pre­co­cial, and are able walk and feed them­selves within 24 hours of hatch­ing. The fe­male broods the chicks at night for the first 2 weeks after hatch­ing. She also de­fends them from preda­tors, some­times pur­su­ing hawks or other preda­tors. The young turkeys (called poults) stay with the fe­male par­ent through the fall (males) or the early spring (fe­males). Turkeys are ca­pa­ble of breed­ing at about 10 months old, though young males are typ­i­cally not suc­cess­ful in com­pet­ing with older males for mates dur­ing their first spring.

Egg dump­ing (lay­ing eggs in an­other fe­male's nest) is com­mon in this species. This species is also known to lay eggs in the nests of ruffed grouse. Ring-necked pheas­ants are known nest par­a­sites of wild turkeys. (Eaton, 1992)

  • Breeding interval
    Wild turkeys breed once per year.
  • Breeding season
    Courtship begins in early spring (January to February).
  • Range eggs per season
    4 to 17
  • Average eggs per season
    11
    AnAge
  • Range time to hatching
    25 to 31 days
  • Range fledging age
    24 (high) hours
  • Range time to independence
    4 to 10 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    10 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    365 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    10 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    Sex: male
    365 days
    AnAge

Male wild turkeys do not pro­vide any parental care. Fe­male wild turkeys pre­pare the nest, in­cu­bate the eggs, and care for the young until the next spring (fall for male poults). The chicks are pre­co­cial, and are able to walk and feed them­selves within 24 hours of hatch­ing. (Eaton, 1992)

  • Parental Investment
  • no parental involvement
  • precocial
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-independence
    • protecting
      • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The av­er­age life ex­pectancy for wild turkeys is es­ti­mated at 1.3 to 1.6 years. The old­est known wild turkey lived at least 13 years. (Eaton, 1992)

  • Range lifespan
    Status: wild
    13 (high) years
  • Typical lifespan
    Status: wild
    1.3 to 1.6 years

Be­hav­ior

Wild turkeys are di­ur­nal and non-mi­gra­tory. By day, they can be seen graz­ing in fields and wood­lands. At night, they roost in trees.

Wild turkeys are gen­er­ally wary, and have keen eye­sight and hear­ing. They are swift run­ners and fast fliers. Turkeys have been recorded fly­ing at 88.5 km/h.

Turkeys are so­cial. Dur­ing the win­ter, they form bands in which dom­i­nance hi­er­ar­chies may de­velop. In some pop­u­la­tions, each band may de­fend a ter­ri­tory against other bands. (Eaton, 1992)

Home Range

We do not have in­for­ma­tion on home range of this species at this time.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Wild turkeys use vo­cal­iza­tions and phys­i­cal dis­plays to com­mu­ni­cate. For ex­am­ple, dur­ing the spring, males will fan out their tails, strut and "gob­ble" in an at­tempt to at­tract and re­tain a harem of fe­males. Bi­ol­o­gists rec­og­nize at least 15 dif­fer­ent wild turkey vo­cal­iza­tions, in­clud­ing the widely rec­og­nized "gob­ble". The "gob­ble" is give pri­mar­ily by males with the pur­pose of at­tract­ing fe­males and re­pelling com­pet­ing males. Other vo­cal­iza­tions are used by both sexes to com­mu­ni­cate a va­ri­ety of mes­sages. (Eaton, 1992)

Food Habits

Wild turkeys are om­niv­o­rous. They pri­mar­ily eat veg­etable mat­ter such as acorns, nuts, seeds, buds, leaves and fern fronds. They also eat ground-dwelling in­sects and sala­man­ders, which ac­count for about 10% of their diet. Wild turkeys for­age pri­mar­ily on the ground, though they oc­ca­sion­ally mount shrubs and low trees to reach fruits and buds. Most for­ag­ing oc­curs dur­ing the 2 to 3 hours after dawn and be­fore dusk. (Eaton, 1992)

  • Animal Foods
  • amphibians
  • insects
  • Plant Foods
  • leaves
  • roots and tubers
  • seeds, grains, and nuts
  • fruit

Pre­da­tion

Preda­tors of wild turkey eggs and nestlings in­clude rac­coons, opos­sums, striped skunks, grey foxes, birds, wood­chucks, ro­dents, spot­ted skunks, bob­cats, rat snakes and bull snakes.

Hu­mans are the pri­mary preda­tor of adult wild turkeys. Other preda­tors in­clude coy­otes, bob­cats, rac­coons, moun­tain lions, golden ea­gles, and great horned owls. (Eaton, 1992)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Wild turkeys pro­vide food for their preda­tors and im­pact pop­u­la­tions of the plants whose seeds and nuts they eat.

Wild turkeys also host at least 60 dif­fer­ent species of par­a­sites. These in­clude 9 pro­to­zoans, 11 trema­todes, 10 ces­todes, 1 acan­tho­cepha­lan, 17 ne­ma­todes and 12 arthro­pods. (Eaton, 1992)

Com­men­sal/Par­a­sitic Species

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Wild turkeys are one of the most pop­u­lar game bird species in the United States. Turkey hunt­ing brings mil­lions of dol­lars to states' De­part­ments of Nat­ural Re­sources, as well as to pub­lic and pri­vate or­ga­ni­za­tions each year. Con­ser­va­tion ef­forts may ben­e­fit from turkey hunt­ing through habi­tat im­prove­ment pro­jects. Nu­mer­ous or­ga­ni­za­tions work to keep wild turkeys plen­ti­ful through­out the coun­try.

  • Positive Impacts
  • food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of wild turkeys on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Wild turkeys are plen­ti­ful and are wide­spread. Many states are start­ing to in­tro­duce them into pre­vi­ously un­in­hab­ited areas, in­creas­ing their range and dis­tri­b­u­tion. Cur­rent es­ti­mates of wild turkey pop­u­la­tions are around 4 mil­lion in North Amer­ica (Dick­son, 1995).

Wild turkeys are not legally pro­tected. In fact, they are hunted in many states.

Con­trib­u­tors

Alaine Cam­field (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Kari Kirschbaum (au­thor, ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Jason Mc­Cul­lough (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Australian

Living in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea and associated islands.

World Map

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
dominance hierarchies

ranking system or pecking order among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

food

A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

introduced

referring to animal species that have been transported to and established populations in regions outside of their natural range, usually through human action.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

marsh

marshes are wetland areas often dominated by grasses and reeds.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

polygynous

having more than one female as a mate at one time

polymorphic

"many forms." A species is polymorphic if its individuals can be divided into two or more easily recognized groups, based on structure, color, or other similar characteristics. The term only applies when the distinct groups can be found in the same area; graded or clinal variation throughout the range of a species (e.g. a north-to-south decrease in size) is not polymorphism. Polymorphic characteristics may be inherited because the differences have a genetic basis, or they may be the result of environmental influences. We do not consider sexual differences (i.e. sexual dimorphism), seasonal changes (e.g. change in fur color), or age-related changes to be polymorphic. Polymorphism in a local population can be an adaptation to prevent density-dependent predation, where predators preferentially prey on the most common morph.

riparian

Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream).

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

sexual ornamentation

one of the sexes (usually males) has special physical structures used in courting the other sex or fighting the same sex. For example: antlers, elongated tails, special spurs.

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

visual

uses sight to communicate

young precocial

young are relatively well-developed when born

Ref­er­ences

Davis, H. 1949. The Amer­i­can Wild Turkey. SC: Small Arms Tech­ni­cal Com­pany.

Dick­son, J. 1995. "Re­turn of Wild Turkeys" (On-line). U.S. Ge­o­log­i­cal Sur­vey: Our Liv­ing Re­sources. Ac­cessed March 12, 2006 at http://​biology.​usgs.​gov/​s+t/​noframe/​b028.​htm.

Eaton, S. 1992. Wild Turkey (Me­lea­gris gal­lopavo). Pp. 1-28 in A Poole, P Stet­ten­heim, F Gill, eds. The Birds of North Amer­ica, Vol. 22. Philadel­phia, PA: The Acad­emy of Nat­ural Sci­ences; Wash­ing­ton, DC: The Amer­i­can Or­nithol­o­gists' Union.

He­witt, O. 1967. The Wild Turkey and its Man­age­ment. Wash­ing­ton, DC: The Wildlife So­ci­ety.

McIl­henny, E. 1914. The Wild Turkey and its Hunt­ing. Gar­den City: Dou­ble­day, Page and Co.

Na­tional Ge­o­graphic So­ci­ety, 1996. Field Guide to the Birds of North Amer­ica. Na­tional Ge­o­graphic So­ci­ety.

Stew­ard, D., G. Hurst. 1998. "Mis­sis­sippi State Uni­ver­sity Ex­ten­sion Ser­vice--Wild Turkey" (On-line). Ac­cessed 03/17/04 at http://​msucares.​com/​pubs/​infosheets/​is636.​htm.

Williams, L. 1981. The Book of the Wild Turkey. Tulsa: Win­ches­ter Press.

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Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Aves birds
  • Order Galliformes chicken-like birds
  • Family Phasianidae turkeys, grouse, pheasants, and partridges
  • Genus Meleagris turkeys
  • Species Meleagris gallopavo wild turkey