Turkeys - Biology Of Turkeys, Turkeys And Humans

Turkeys are relatively large, powerful, ground-feeding, North American birds with colorful, featherless heads, classified in the family Phasianidae. The original range of the common turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was from extreme southern Ontario to Mexico, but it now occupies a much smaller area. The second species in this family is the ocellated turkey (Agriocharis ocellata), which occurs in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize.

Turkeys are economically important birds. They are widely hunted in the wild, and are intensively reared on farms. The populations of wild turkeys are now greatly reduced, and much of their natural habitat has been destroyed, but many millions of these birds occur in captivity.