A female turkey, or hen, has more subdued wattles than the male, called a tom. Anza Valley Outlook/Diane Sieker photo
Turkeys are popular, whether for their apparent lack of intelligence, pretty feathers, tastiness or how clever their wild relatives can be. Turkeys have an important place in the history of our country as well as on our holiday dinner tables.The common turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, is an indigenous game bird of North America and lives over a wide range of habitats in the United States.Turkeys were domesticated by the First Peoples of pre-Columbian Mexico in ancient times for their eggs, feathers and meat. Upon their discovery by the Spaniards, turkeys crossed the Atlantic, bound for Spain in about 1519. From Spain they were transported throughout Europe, coming to England in the 1540s.As the big birds became popular in England, English colonists introduced European-bred turkey b
