Drought-like circumstances mixed with heavy predation led the California turkey to extinction over 10,000 years in the past.
Relying on the place on this planet you’re looking turkeys, you could be lucky to see different exceptional wildlife when you sit and hammer in your field or slate name. You could even have one or two curious predatory critters come into your calls, hoping for a simple meal.
For a lot of trendy turkey species, their most important predators are owls, coyotes, and cougars. However what in the event that they had been golden eagles, sabertooth tigers, or dire wolves? What about sitting on the sting of a clearing and watching big floor sloths, mammoths, and mastodons frolic within the early morning mist when you await a giant outdated tom to return in?
For the extinct California turkey, life, together with the wildlife that surrounded them, seemed very completely different from immediately.
Discovery and Classification of the California Turkey
The California Turkey, or Melegaris californica, was first recognized by samples discovered within the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California, by Loye. H. Miller in 1909. Sadly, his preliminary evaluation incorrectly categorized this organic proof as being a part of the peacock household. Nonetheless, he later modified his understanding and idea, believing it to be an middleman species between peacocks and turkeys. It wouldn’t be till 1924 that his findings had been appropriately categorized as its personal distinctive however extinct species, one which had been remoted from cross-breeding with different subspecies of untamed turkey as a consequence of its geographic location and the bodily obstacles discovered within the desert and surrounding mountains.
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum researchers spotlight how pure obstacles protected the California turkey gene pool whereas additionally isolating it, prohibiting cross-breeding with different subspecies, “We have now not been capable of efficiently retrieve DNA from fossils on the La Brea Tar Pits. That being stated, it seems unlikely that the California turkey interbred with the fashionable wild turkey, as their distributional ranges appear to have been divided by the Sierra Nevada through the late Pleistocene. It’s thus inconceivable that any genetic materials in trendy turkeys comes immediately from the extinct California turkey.”
Based mostly on its fossil information, the California turkey is extra intently associated to japanese wild turkeys than Merriam’s. It additionally seems the California turkey was endemic to California, with a vary from Orange County within the south by way of LA County to Santa Barbara County within the north.
Bones of birds representing all phases of growth, from day-old chicks to just about grownup people, have been recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits, offering among the finest information of life through the Pleistocene period. Practically 12,000 bones representing greater than 700 particular person birds have been pulled from the La Brea Tar pits exterior of Los Angeles.
In the present day, it’s thought that the California turkey arose evolutionarily about 11 million years in the past and went extinct 10,000 to 12,000 years in the past.
Bodily Traits of the California Turkey
The cautious evaluation and evaluation of hundreds of various California turkey specimens allowed researchers to develop a greater understanding of the hen’s bodily traits and traits. M. californica was barely smaller than its trendy wild turkey counterparts.
One of many final main research of bones and fossilized information of M. californica was performed in 1980 by Steadman. He reexamined the hen’s skeletal data, permitting scientists to review particular bone samples from completely different turkey species, together with M. gallopavo and M. ocellata. This work confirmed that the extinct M. californica shared extra bodily options in widespread with japanese wild turkeys than different trendy subspecies.
Researchers from the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum recommend, “Based mostly on the bones, the California turkey was smaller and shorter-legged than the fashionable wild turkey with a barely shorter, flatter, and wider beak.” A research by Bochenski and Campbell from 2006 reveals that the extinct species M. californica is most much like M. gallopavo, with which it shares almost half of all of the character traits that had been analyzed (sizes of various bones, bone ratios, and many others.).
Bochenski and Campbell additionally hypothesize that, similar to its trendy counterparts, the California turkey utilized distinctive vocalizations to speak with different turkeys. It could have been due to its capability to name to different members of its species that such a excessive variety of birds had been discovered within the tar pits. The idea is that the birds that grew to become immobilized within the tar would cry for assist, which in flip would trigger members of the flock to strategy, who would additionally turn into caught.
California Turkey Predation
Very similar to the wild turkeys of immediately, M. californica needed to be in a relentless state of readiness, at all times cautious of predators from the bottom and air. Though there isn’t any direct proof, scientists from the La Brea Tar Pits hypothesize that it’s probably that “coyotes and bobcats preyed upon the adults, chicks, and eggs. Smaller mammalian carnivores such because the American Badger and skunks might have additionally predated the nests of historic turkeys. Additionally it is probably that bigger carnivores equivalent to saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and short-faced bears would have additionally caught the occasional grownup.”
Scientists hypothesize that one of many extra widespread predators of M. californica had been avian animals like golden eagles or the extinct Woodward’s eagle. The second largest variety of fossilized birds at La Brea are golden eagles, which might not be a coincidence, however a mirrored image of the predation on the California turkey. Scientists recommend that eagles would have hunted these turkeys whereas they had been on the bottom and on the roost.
Turkeys caught within the tar pits would have made a tantalizing deal with for any eagles flying above. The idea is that the massive variety of golden eagle stays within the pits signifies that birds might have tried to assault the weak, uncovered, immobilized turkeys. When the eagles hit their goal from above, they might have anticipated with the ability to efficiently decide up their quarry and fly away with ease. Nonetheless, with the turkeys themselves firmly embedded within the tar, the eagles would have struggled, typically turning into tangled within the tar themselves. This incident would have left their stays to be preserved and located by scientists hundreds of years later.
As paleontologists from the La Brea Tar Pit recommend, “The California turkey seems to have been a typical species (primarily based on the massive variety of fossils recovered). It’s doable it shaped an necessary dietary merchandise for carnivorous birds and mammals through the late Pleistocene.“
Extinction of the California Turkey
The extinction of M. californica was not a quick prevalence however one which advanced over time as a consequence of a collection of things. Pure climate adjustments additionally closely impacted the inhabitants numbers of this turkey. Scientists documented a gentle decline in precipitation, with ranges dropping considerably over a interval of 100 years round 11,500 BP. A drastic change in precipitation would have had a major affect on all wildlife, together with the California turkey’s entry to consuming water and important roost timber.
As droughts grew to become extra frequent and excessive, water sources crucial to the survival and dispersion of M. californica started to dry up. The dearth of precipitation would have had a direct impact on how turkeys congregated and roosted. Not solely was water important to their very own survival, however with out it, their roost timber would have died or turn into unusable. The drought, coupled with the affect on roost timber, started to drive turkeys to congregate in smaller, extra densely populated areas.
Sadly for M. californica, predation was not restricted to nonhumans. Round 12,000 BP, Paleoindian individuals arrived on the West Coast, which scientists consider might have put an finish to an remoted and weak species. The drought-like circumstances made for perfect looking circumstances for early Paleoindian individuals, who in all probability rapidly realized that concentrated turkeys are a lot simpler to seek out and kill.
The arrival of a brand new, expert, and proficient predator within the type of people, coupled with the affect of extended drought circumstances, spelled out the start of the top for California’s wild turkey. Though these birds aren’t round for contemporary people to admire, should you hunt in California this yr, take a minute to recollect this particular hen that when wolfed and clucked its method round what’s now the California shoreline.
*Function Picture of Skeleton of Meleagris californica on show on the Web page Museum on the La Brea Tar Pits by Jonathan Chen
