Deputy Bird Keeper, Ryan
When I found out I was doing the Christmas day blog, I struggled to pick a topic. I am a bit of a grinch at Christmas and did struggle to find a topic that would fit in with today that I would genuinely find interesting. That was until I had a turkey ham sandwich, regretting not getting normal ham, and then realizing how fascinating the domestication process really is! What better way to celebrate Christmas than to learn about how your overpriced yet delicious turkey came to be? Forget the nativity, this is going to be the turkeytivty!
When you google how many turkeys are eaten at each UK Christmas, the most common average figure you will find is 10 million. 10 million is ironically an eye watering number for such a dry bird; 10 million is the size of Hungary’s entire population! Thanks to the impressive amount of meat an intensively farmed turkey can produce, turkey farming across the Northern Hemisphere is big business.
How did the turkey come to be?
How did this industry first start? No, it didn’t start in Turkey… The English name Turkey was given to them due to a minor misidentification with another species of wildfowl that coincidently came from Turkey. The first turkeys were believed to have been domesticated around 2000 years ago by Mesoamerican civilizations in central Mexico. Civilizations like, for example, the Maya and the Aztecs. This region at the time was famously known for how industrious their agriculture was, from aquaponics to farming captured enemy warriors for religious sacrifices.
The domestic turkey was domesticated from only one of two extant species of wild turkey, aptly called the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). This species of turkey is found naturally across most parts of the Eastern United states, some parts of the Western United States and in central Mexico. The other species of turkey is called the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) which is found in southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It is a smaller yet more vibrantly coloured species.
Wild vs domestic turkeys
Our domestic turkeys are technically a sub-species of the wild turkey, so they are still the same species. This is just like how the domestic dog and arctic wolf is classed as a sub-species of grey wolf, unlike the domestic cat, (Felis catus) which is classed as its own separate species from their wild ancestors.
Domestication is weird and confusing… However, it is truly incredible to learn about. Domestication is not to be confused with taming. Anything has the potential to be “tamed” but only a few certain species can be truly domesticated. The species has to have easily obtainable nutritional requirements, generally have a good temperament and it must be relatively simple to control their reproduction. The wild horse checked all three of these requirements, thus allowing us to domesticate it relatively easily. Unlike Zebras that usually have a rather distasteful temperament that makes it unsuitable for domesticating.
So how did they get into Europe?
Anyway, back to the turkeys. So, you’re probably thinking “Alright Ryan mate, I get it. They were domesticated 2000 odd years ago in Mexico, how does that answer how they got to Europe?” Well, my old China, let me tell you.
Unfortunately, it involves the Spanish conquest of the Mesoamerican empires in the early 1500s. You see, we only got our turkeys due to a sheer amount of blood shed, pillaging, weaponization of diseases and colonization. Yikes… if sprouts didn’t put you off your Xmas dinner, then this origin story would.
In the 16th century, after establishing control over the region, the Spanish started importing turkeys back to the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish word for turkey is pavo. Gradually, through trade, migration and surprise.. surprise, more Spanish invasions. However, this time over European territories like Belgium and large parts of Italy, domestic turkeys made their way across Europe. They eventually made their way to us in the UK, it is widely believed that a man named William Strickland first introduced the turkey to England in the 1500s. An achievement so noteworthy that his family coat of arms was changed to a depiction of a tom turkey, tom being the name of a male turkey. This does inspire me to make my Randall coat of arms as a Bombay bad boy pot noodle.
Turkey farming
Turkey farming only really seemed to be centered in and around East Anglia. It wasn’t as industrialized or as intensively farmed as they are today. This meant turkey was often scarcer than other meats, thus making it a luxury. Most of us reading this will have only ever known turkey as the go-to meat of choice for an average working-class UK Christmas. However, this has not always been the case. It was only until after the 1940s that turkey farming became industrialized to the scale of chickens, cows, sheep and pigs. This meant turkey meat was far more common which made it become more affordable to the masses. Before this time, most of the population would have opted for goose or beef due to it being cheaper than turkey.
Domestication
Going back to domestication, I like to think of this process as a sort of fast-tracked version of evolution. Selective breeding allows genetic mutations to be capitalized and breeding on a large scale in general will provide more of these genetic mutations. These mutations can be an increase in size, change in colouration, change in plumage and much more.
Selective breeding
Selective breeding has allowed us to create many different breeds of turkey for two main purposes, meat production and for hobbyists. Large breeds such as the Broad breasted bronze and Broad breasted white are the most commonly used for meat production. This is due to their large breasts producing an impressive quantity of meat and short stubby legs meaning more room for breast! White varieties of turkey are often favoured for meat production due to their pin feathers being harder to see, making for a better-looking carcass when it is being dressed.
How much meat do they have?
These large breeds have shorter keels/breast bones, again meaning more breast meat. However due to having small breast bones, they struggle to breed successfully without human intervention via artificial insemination. These breeds are purely bred for lots of meat, fast and cheap. They can grow to weigh up to 18kg! If a broad breasted bronze or white were to be spared being slaughtered, their life span would be drastically short compared to smaller breeds. This is due to their long list of health conditions they are prone to, because of their bodies being so big and essentially deformed.
I hope you enjoyed learning about where your Christmas turkey has come from. If some of the gory facts didn’t put you off, meaning you still fancy having a turkey for dinner. I would recommend Ol ‘faithful, the Norfolk black. This was originally one of the most farmed breeds of turkey in the UK; but fell out of favour due to higher yielding breeds. This breed, however, is often farmed in better conditions and takes longer to grow. This has led to the meat being one of the moistest and gamiest turkey going.
