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Wild and domestic turkeys: birds of a different feather

Wild turkey

The separation of the wild and domestic turkey began hundreds of years ago, according to Ruth. Native Americans had accomplished the domestication of turkeys before Europeans set foot on the continent. Turkey bones have been found in Indian burial mounds in Tennessee, Kentucky and some other parts of the South, and turkeys were being raised in Mexico and Central America for more than 500 years before the Spanish arrived. Turkey relics have been found in Arizona dating as far back as 25 A.D., and turkey-raising may well be one of the oldest forms of organized meat production in the Northern Hemisphere.

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