A wild turkey chick in California. © Becky Matsubara/ Flickr
California is among the states that didnt originally have wild turkeys. However, 10,000 years ago the state had a separate species of turkey, the California turkey (Meleagris californica). Fossil proof suggests the bird was stockier than a wild turkey, but otherwise quite similar.
This bird was restricted to a little area of southern California, but apparently it was fairly typical. Its bones are among the most typical bird bones at the well-known La Brea Tar Pits. The Tar Pits collection includes bones from 700 private birds.
As birder and naturalist Don Robertson notes, the majority of authorities believe the California turkey ended up being separated from wild turkey populations and diverged. This raises interesting questions about the wild turkeys variety in the Pleistocene. Robertson notes historical turkey bone finds in Idaho and northern California, both considered outside wild turkey native variety.
Wild turkeys were introduced to California by its Fish and Game Commission beginning in the early 1900s. These were farm-raised birds, and as held true in numerous places, these birds did not have survival abilities. As reported by Scientific American, wild birds were launched from 1959 through 1999, and these succeeded. Today there may be as many as 250,000 wild turkeys in California.
Is this a reintroduction or an intro? Rewilding lovers, who wish to restore communities to Pleistocene conditions, would think about turkeys a California local. Others consider them an intrusive species with potentially harmful impacts, even though the scientific proof is not definitive.
The existence of wild turkeys– whether in California or New Zealand– says more about our worths than it does about science. Wild turkeys were as soon as in trouble.
California
10,000 years ago the state had a different species of turkey, the California turkey (Meleagris californica). As birder and naturalist Don Robertson notes, most authorities believe the California turkey became separated from wild turkey populations and diverged. Robertson notes historical turkey bone finds in Idaho and northern California, both considered outside wild turkey native range.
Wild turkeys were introduced to California by its Fish and Game Commission starting in the early 1900s.
