Written for the Estes Park Trail-Gazette 

As Thanksgiving dinner winds down, and after we have all given thanks for an abundant meal, let’s learn a little about the wild cousin of the domesticated turkey.

Wild turkeys were abundant in North America, including in the area that is now Plymouth, Mass., the location of the first Thanksgiving dinner. Estimates put wild turkey numbers as high as 10 million across the continent at the time the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

When the Pilgrims had dinner with the indigenous Wampanoag people in 1621, turkey was probably not on the menu. Historians believe waterfowl was served, but that was more likely a goose or duck.

Wild_turkey_2Stock photo of a single, male wild turkey in full display in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that turkeys became part of the Thanksgiving meal.

According to History.com, Sarah Josepha Hale wrote “Northwood” in 1827, a novel that had an entire chapter about Thanksgiving celebrations. Through her writings and job as a magazine editor, she encouraged the U.S. government to establish a national Thanksgiving holiday. That became reality when, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving holiday.

But the domesticated turkey we include in today’s celebrations was actually cultivated in Mexico and originated from a different subspecies than the wild turkey — Meleagris gallopavo.

Domesticated turkeys became more commonplace in the 20th century with advances in agriculture.

Ocellated_turkey_Belize_2024_1An ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) preens his colorful feathers in the Rio Bravo Conservation Area of Belize. The wild turkey, common around Colorado, is one of only two wild species of turkeys in the world, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The other is the ocellated turkey of Mexico and Central America.

Turkeys are often thought of as a ground bird, but these large birds can fly at speeds up to 55 miles per hour in short flights. They can also run up to 18 mph on the ground.

Domestic turkeys, referred to as broad-breasted white, cannot fly thanks to years of breeding to fatten them up for food. This larger size, particularly in the breast and thighs, has made them too heavy to take off.

Wild turkeys also roost each evening high in trees where they are safe from most predators.

According to stories told over the years, Benjamin Franklin was not a fan of selecting the bald eagle for America’s national bird. His choice was believed to be the turkey. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin stated, “the bald eagle ... is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly ... (he) is too lazy to fish for himself. The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.”

Turkey_12Two wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) fight while a third watches like a referee as snow falls in Waterton Canyon near Littleton, Colorado With about 7 million wild turkeys in the U.S. today, according to the National Audubon Society, it is hard to imagine that the species was almost hunted to extinction in the early 1900s. The ocellated turkey numbers, however, continue to decline, with a listing by the IUCN as near threatened.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an adult turkey has 5,000 to 6,000 feathers. On the domestic turkey, with its white feathers, the pin feathers leave less of a pigment spot when removed on the carcass, and thus creates a more attractive presentation when served at a meal.

There are several terms for the different sexes of turkeys: gobblers or toms are male turkeys; hens are female turkeys; jakes are young male turkeys; jennies are young female turkeys.

Each year, about 46 million turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This makes up about one-fifth of all turkeys consumed in one year, with about 91 percent of Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving eating turkey, according to an Economist poll.