Page 7 - Kind News, Nov/Dec 2022

CURIOSITY CORNER
A
TALE OF
TWO
domesticated
turkey
wild turkey
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: K.MARGO/ BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM; BROOKHOUSE/BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM; SAMJRAY105/BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM
Did the first Thanksgiving include
a turkey? Maybe. The birds lived alongside
Native Americans. Now, turkeys quietly strut their
shiny brown feathers through most of the United
States and northern Mexico. They have excellent
eyesight to spot predators, and can fly 55 miles per
hour to escape. They’ve been seen flying across
highways and chasing mail carriers and police cars.
No wonder Benjamin Franklin called the turkey
OPPOSITE PAGE: CHRISTINA GEPHARDT/HUMANE RESCUE ALLIANCE.
“a bird of courage!”
Just as dogs came from wild wolves, domestic
turkeys (those tamed and kept by humans) came
they are the same species, there are big differences.
Domestic turkeys’ feathers are white. They cluck
a lot, but since most are kept in large structures,
they don’t have to worry about predators hearing
them. Because of how they are bred for food,
domestic turkeys have become so heavy (as
much as 29 pounds heavier than their wild cousins),
they can’t fly.
RIDDLE ANSWER: BRRR-D!
1 I am the only marsupial — a
mammal who carries and nurses
young in pouches — in the United
States and Canada!
2 I “play dead” in front of my
predators. I don’t do this on
purpose; it’s an automatic response
from my body caused by stress.
3 Even though I can carry ticks on my
skin, I eat most of them! I may even
help out by eating other ticks in my
habitat, or where I live.
4 Since I am nocturnal, you
won’t see me during the day
very often.
5 Because of my low body
temperature, I almost never
get rabies (a virus that affects
the brain).
6 use my tail a lot: to build nests
I
and keep myself from falling when
I climb.
7 I groom myself with my tongue,
similar to the way cats do.
What am I?
from the wild variety over hundreds of years. While
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