Do you think you can talk turkey? Here are 10 fun facts to know about these interesting birds:
- Gobbles — the sounds that turkeys make — can be heard more than a mile away.
- Adult wild male turkeys have a prominent tuft of hairlike bristles resembling a beard projecting downward from their chests. Beards can grow 9 to 18 inches long. Interestingly, 10 percent to 20 percent of hens also grow beards. No one knows what they are for, but they are presumed to play a role in mating and territorial displays.
- Wild turkeys like to roost in trees at night.
- Male (called gobblers or toms) and female turkeys (hens) have caruncles, which are growths on the throat region that turn bright red when the turkeys are distraught or during courtship.
- Males and females have snoods — flap of skins that hang over their beaks and can be voluntarily contracted. Snoods, which are larger in males, also turn bright red when the turkey is upset or courting a mate.
- All tail feathers of an adult tom’s tail are the same length — about 12 inches. The feathers forming the center of an immature male’s tail (younger males are called jakes) are usually longer than the rest of the feathers in the tail.
- Males strut around shaking their feathers, doing the “turkey trot,” to help them attract females for mating.
- There are at least 15 wild turkey vocalizations.
- Wild turkeys can fly well. Since many of their bones, including those in the skull, are filled with air to make them lighter for flight, their skeletons are only about 5 percent of their body weight. On the other hand, domesticated turkeys, because they have been selectively bred to be heavier birds destined for the dinner table, usually can’t fly.
- Wild turkeys have been recorded flying as fast as 55 miles per hour.