Microlivestock Little-Known Small Animals with a Promising Economic Future (1991) / Chapter Skim
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12 Turkey
12 Turkey
Pages 157-166
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From page 157... ...
That they are unrecognized elsewhere is a serious oversight. Native to North America, the turkey was domesticated by Indians about 400 BC, and today's Mexican birds seem to be direct descendants.~ Unlike the large-breasted, modern commercial varieties, they mate naturally and they retain colored feathers and a narrow breast configuration.
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From page 158... ...
stands out prominently from the center of the breast. DISTRIBUTION The unimproved domestic turkey is essentially limited to central Mexico and scattered locations throughout nearby Latin American 2 Information from ADETEF, 1980.
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From page 159... ...
However, the wild Mexican varieties, ancestors to the first domesticated turkeys sent to Europe, may now be endangered since their distribution in southwestern Mexico has been greatly reduced. Certainly some primitive domestic strains in the uplands of central Mexico are also being depleted.
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From page 160... ...
In their native range of Mexico and Central America, the "unimproved" birds are usually produced as a cash crop for market. They receive little care or feed, and thus they are almost all profit providing a significant income supplement to many rural homes.
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From page 162... ...
However, the Aztecs and the Tarascans, originating in west-central Mexico, seemed to have achieved the highest development of turkey culture, and it is probable that turkeys were domesticated in the western highlands, perhaps in Michoacan. Wild turkeys of that region are morphologically very similar to the primitive domestic bronze type.
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From page 163... ...
In the 1920s, he brought his improved birds to Canada, where their large size and broad breasts quickly made them foundation breeding stock. Crossed with the narrow-breasted north American types, these heavily muscled meat birds quickly supplanted other varieties.
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From page 164... ...
occurs in Yucatan, Guatemala, and Belize. It is much like the common turkey in size, fond, and behavior; however, unlike the common turkey, which in Mexico lives in the high mountain pine and oak forests, the ocellated turkey inhabits bushy, semiforested lowlands.
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From page 165... ...
Even today, in the rural Peten area of Guatemala, ocellated turkeys are sometimes kept around houses as scavengers. LIMITATIONS Young birds are readily affected by temperature changes and must be protected from the sun as well as from sudden chills, such as may occur at night.
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