Changes

|name=Turkey

|name=Turkey

|image=Turkey bird.jpg

|image=Turkey bird.jpg

|caption=

|caption=Common turkey<br/>''Meleagris gallopavo''

|domain=Eukaryota

|domain=Eukaryota

|kingdom=Animalia

|kingdom=Animalia

==Domestication==

==Domestication==

A Mexican subspecies (''M. g. gallopavo'') had already been domesticated when the Spanish arrived there in 1519; several of these birds were taken to Europe a short time later, where they spread to farms throughout much of the continent.  The name "turkey" was first applied to the bird in England, a transliteration of the name then applied to the guinea fowl (''Numida meleagris'') of Islamic, or "Turkish," lands in northern Africa.  It was the English who brought back their domesticated version to the American colonies in the early-17th century, where they eventually became a staple of the diet, and the symbol of the [[Thanksgiving]] holiday.

A Mexican subspecies (''M. g. gallopavo'') was first domesticated by pre-Aztec people, who had started penning the birds around 800 B.C.  According to studies published in the ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'', the turkey was first domesticated for their feathers, which were used as adornment or in ceremonies and rituals; this in turn was copied by the [[Anasazi]] in what is now the southwestern United States around 800 B.C.<ref>http://www.pnas.org/content/107/7/2807.full.pdf+html?sid=e048935f-fb81-4e71-b2c6-624f62835e23</ref>  It was around 1100 A.D. that the birds were first used as an important food source by ancestors of the present-day [[Pueblo]]s<ref>http://news.discovery.com/history/native-americans-turkeys-domestication.html</ref>.  Europeans first saw the domesticated turkey when the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519, and a short time later a number of these bird were taken to Europe, where they spread to farms throughout much of the continent.  It was the English who brought back their domesticated version to the American colonies in the early-17th century, where they eventually became a staple of the diet, and the symbol of the [[Thanksgiving]] holiday.

 

The name "turkey" was first applied to the bird in England, a transliteration of the name then applied to the [[guinea fowl]] (''Numida meleagris'') of Islamic, or "Turkish," lands in northern Africa.

 

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==External Links==

==External Links==