Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom
November Page
Turkeys
Oklahoma's Wild Turkey's / Turkeys and the Pilgrims / Benjamin Franklin on the Turkey / What Makes Dark Meat Dark?
The TurkeyThis old road is hard and bumpy |
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Oklahoma's Wild Turkeys
Some farmers grew turkeys on their farms in 1907, the year Oklahoma became a state, but most people probably went out hunting for wild turkey for their Thanksgiving tables. In fact, wild turkeys were nearly wiped out in the early days of statehood because of the influx of people. By 1925, most people thought they were extinct. In the late 1940s the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation embarked on a stocking program to reestablish the wild turkey to its former range. This program was so successful that today we have huntable populations in every county.
Oklahoma's Wild Turkeys (Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation)
In 1990 the wild turkey was named Oklahoma's official game bird.
Online OAITC Lesson: A Rafter of Turkeys and Smart Board Lesson
Turkeys and the Pilgrims
"Turkeys were by no means a novelty to the Pilgrims. Whe the conquistadors arrived in Mexico in the sixteenth century, they discovered that the Indians of Central America possessed domesticated turkeys as well as gold. The birds were imported to Spain as early as the 1520s, and by the 1540s they had reached England. By 1575, the domesticated Central American turkey had become a fixture at English Christmases. The wild turkey of New England was bigger and much faster than the birds the Pilgrims had known in Europe and were often pursued in winter when they could be tracked in snow."
from Philbrick, Nathaniel, Mayflower, Penguin, 2006.
Benjamin Franklin on the Turkey
"...Others object to the Bald Eagle as looking too much like a Turkey. For my own part, I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country; he is a Bird of bad moral Character. For in truth, the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America. Eagles have been found in all Countries, but the Turkey was peculiar to ours...He is, though a little vain and silly, it is true, but not the worse emblem for that, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards, who should presume to invade his Farmyard with a red coat on."
- Benjamin Franklin
What makes dark meat dark?
Dark meat, which avian myologists (bird muscle scientists) refer to as "red muscle," is used for sustained activity—chiefly walking, in the case of a turkey. The dark color comes from a chemical compound in the muscle called myoglobin, which plays a key role in oxygen transport. White muscle, in contrast, is suitable only for short bursts of activity such as, for turkeys, flying. That's why the turkey's leg meat and thigh meat are dark, and its breast meat (which makes up the primary flight muscles) is white. Other birds more capable in the flight department, such as ducks and geese, have red muscle (and dark meat) throughout.
A 3-ounce serving of skinless white turkey meat contains 25 grams of fat, and less than 1 gram of saturated fat. Dark meat has more saturated fat than white meat, and eating the skin adds even more saturated fat. Turkey is also a good source of arginine—an amino acid the body uses to make new protein and nitric oxide, the substance that relaxes and opens arteries. (Source: Harvard Health Publications)
Diagram of a Male and Female Turkey
Books
Arnosky, Jim, All About Turkeys, Scholastic, 2008. (Grades 2-4)
Information-packed book details the life and habits of the wild turkey, including what it eats, how it raises its young and where it is found. Inserts of text and pictures provide detail on each topic.
Arnosky, Jim, I'm a Turkey!, Scholastic, 2009. (Grades PreK-3)
Humorous song, filled with factual information about turkeys.
Stone, Tanya Lee, and Gerald Kelley, T is for Turkey: A True Thanksgiving Story, Price Stern Sloam, 2009. (Grades PreK-2)
The elementary school puts on a play that tells the story of the first Thanksgiving. Rhyming couplets that flow through the alphabet help kids celebrate everything from harvest to Pilgrims to turkey.
White, Linda, and Megan Lloyd, Too Many Turkeys, Holiday House, 2011. (Grades 1-3)
After a little lost turkey wanders onto Belle and Fred's farm, Belle's garden becomes the most beautiful one in the neighborhood. Everyone wants to know her secret, but Belle won't tell. Then, while she is out of town, another turkey comes to roost on the farm - and then another and another, until the whole farm is overrun. Fred is at his wit's end when his neighbor
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.