Domestic turkey

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Revision as of 19:23, 13 October 2010 by imported>Aleta Curry (um... as long as we're speaking of turkeys...)
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The domestic turkey is a domesticated bird kept as poultry. The naming of turkeys is a little bit confusing because it is one of the rare instances where using a biological name is not enough to clarify the animal of which we are speaking. The species name for the domestic turkey is Meleagris gallopavo, but this is also the biological name of the wild bird from which it was developed, the wild turkey. To further complicate matters, another species, the ocellated turkey, Meleagris ocellata, was also domesticated, but decendants of these birds are no longer used as poultry.!--> (I don't think).-->

Domestic turkeys are a staple of the turkey dinner, which is a standard celebratory or feast in the West for such holidays as Christmas and also, in the US, Thanksgiving.