Many of us have had the experience of some weird relative showing up at Thanksgiving. But what if the turkey on the platter chose to invite its relative?
Not all dinosaurs died when a giant asteroid walloped the Yucatan peninsula 66 million years ago, wiping out two-thirds of all species. Some birds survived the massive tsunamis, dust storms, and fires that blanketed the Earth. The ones that made it tended to be ground-dwelling and were able to hunker down after the asteroid hit.
Among those prehistoric birds that survived, their closest living relatives are chickens and turkeys. What’s more, turkeys and chickens have a common ancestor, carnivorous dinosaurs called therapods, such as Tyrannosaurus-rex, the most fearsome predator ever to roam the Earth. They share a common skeletal characteristic – a wishbone, and other similarities such as air-filled bones. Both T-rex and turkeys derived from a common bird ancestor 190 million years ago - Archaopteryx. https://evolution.berkeley.edu/what-are-evograms/the-origin-of-birds/
“Oh wow,” said Megan Osofsky, upon hearing of the link. “We’re part of history.” Osofsky raises turkeys as a hobby with her husband Sheldon, and this year they hit the jackpot, producing a 42-lb turkey. This T-rex of turkeys will feed 30 adults and eight kids this Thanksgiving in Pine Plains, Osofsky said.
Another fact: Turkeys don’t come from Turkey. First domesticated in Mexico some 2,000 years ago, the modern wild turkey got its name in the 1500s when Turkish traders imported the bird to Europe.
In the U.S., wild turkey numbers declined to only about 39,000 birds in the 1940s due to habitat loss and hunting. Today, they number close to 7 million. Anyone who lives in our area knows that wild turkeys are rebounding and seem to think they own the right of way on any stretch of road.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!