| California turkey Temporal range:Pleistocene - EarlyHolocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeleton on display in thePage Museum at theLa Brea Tar Pits | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Phasianidae |
| Genus: | Meleagris |
| Species: | †M. californica |
| Binomial name | |
| †Meleagris californica (Miller, 1909) | |
TheCalifornian turkey (Meleagris californica) is an extinct species ofturkey that lived during thePleistocene and EarlyHolocene epochs inCalifornia. It has been estimated that the Californian turkey went extinct about 10,000 years ago.[1]
Fossil evidence indicates that the Californian turkey was stockier than thewild turkey of the eastern United States, with a shorter, wider beak, but was largely similar otherwise. It is a very common fossil in theLa Brea Tar Pits.[2]: 5 Size-wise, though, the California turkey might have been intermediate in size between the smallersouthwestern turkey (Meleagris crassipes) and the largerNorth American wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo).[3]
The extinction of this species is thought to have been caused by a combination of drought, which would have forced turkeys to restrict their lives to areas close to water sources, and overhunting by humans who had arrived relatively recently in the region.[2]: 52
This species was originally described as a type ofpeafowl by Miller in 1909 and placed in the genusPavo with that bird.[2]: 3
"The unquestionable geographic range ofM. californica extended from Orange County in the south (Imperial Highway), through Los Angeles County (Rancho La Brea and probably also Workman and Alhambra Streets), to Santa Barbara County in the north (Carpinteria)."[2]: 44
During theMiocene, Californian turkeys probably originated from other turkey populations that have become restricted tosouthern California. However, the similarities between the Californian and wild turkey suggest the former, following isolation of their ancestors, may have faced similar evolutionary pressures when compared to their mainland relatives.[4]
Thexeric desert topography that prevails now in southeastern California and western Arizona may have prevented the Californian turkey and its neighbor, the wild turkey, from exchanging genes with one another. This would therefore indicate the California turkey has been an isolated species separated from the more abundant wild turkey for some time before their extinction.[5]
