Facts You Probably Know About The Ocellated Turkey

By Virginia Clark


We are all probably familiar with bird. They can be kept for food, commercial purposes or as pets. In the United States, they are probably used mostly on Thanksgiving day. Almost in every home, a turkey is curved. Apart from the delicious bird we all know and love, there is another kind of turkey known as an ocellated turkey.

First, they can grow up to 1.2 meters long. They have a wide variety of colors and happen to be colorful than the American wild turkeys. Both the male and female have blue heads with red nodules emerging from the heads. The male has 4cm spurs on their legs. These come in handy especially when they are fighting each other for various reasons.

They are omnivore birds which means they feed both on plants and animals. In the wild, however, their diet contains beetles, berries, leaves, seeds and other things. The male is known as the gobble while the female is in known as a hen. During the mating season, the gobble struts and goes around the female in an effort to attract.

They are found in Central America and in Mexico, mainly in Belize and Guatemala. Unfortunately, their population continues to decrease by the day. This is mainly because of the numerous hunts taking place by the locals and the predators. The fact that their habitat is being destroyed is also a major contributor to the decrease in population.

In the early 1900s, these birds had been hunted so much. They almost became extinct. Luckily, a rehabilitation program was introduced, and they were able to repopulate and go back to being large in numbers. As much as much as we seem to think that bird and chicken are related, they are not. Evolution of 45million years ago proves it.

These turkeys have six different species. The first one is the one found on the eastern side of America which the pilgrims used to eat really. This species has extended all the way to Canada. Most people refer to it as the forest bird as it is mainly found in the forest. It is the most dominant species, and it stands at a strong 5million in number.

Studies show that the females prefer males with long snoods. The length of the snood is also used in the determination of the winner when there has been a fight. The male bird has a beard of modified feathers on their breast. This is however not the case for the females. The males are also much larger compared to the females.

A very interesting fact is the ability to determine the gender of a turkey by just observing their droppings. The male produces spiraling droppings while the female produce that which is shaped like the letter J. They can run at a speed of 25 miles per hour. The flying is also fast as they fly at a rate of 55 miles per hour.

Males that are related can go after the same female, but only one will get to mate. The female lays 10-12eggs over a span of 2 weeks. The incubation period is 28 days after which the eggs hatch.




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