Nobody likes getting pecked on the head. Beyond the humor, modern research and observation backs this up to some degree, says Tanya Peres, a zooarchaeologist at Florida State University who has specialized in iconography and animal symbolism. Most notably, turkeys tend to flock together and find strength in numbers.
Younger male turkeys, called jakes, often stick around dominant males after a pecking order has been established. And groups of turkeys have been known to scare off raccoons and other predators encroaching on land, Peres says.
Her research suggests that turkeys likely played a dynamic role — beyond a food source — in the lives of Native Americans before the U. Archaeologists in eastern Tennessee have also uncovered more than a dozen marine shell gorgets an adornment for the throat depicting a turkey motif.
Many of these in burial sites suggest the turkey was a meaningful symbol and not just food, Peres says. In , she published a paper based on exceptionally large excavated turkey bones that suggest possible turkey management as far back as — A. Other evidence of domesticated turkeys, including pens, discovered in Mexico date back 1, years.
None of this, of course, settles whether a bald eagle or turkey makes the better U. But symbols and colors can surely influence the identity and attitudes of a nation or community.
Personally, she added, she could get behind swapping the turkey for the bald eagle as the American symbol. When a male turkey is strutting, the snood engorges with blood and extends to hang down over the beak. Wild turkeys have very powerful legs and can run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Their top speed in flight is 55 miles per hour. Domestic birds, on the other hand, are bred to be heavier so they provide more meat and therefore cannot fly, though they can still run.
Wild turkeys are smarter than bald eagles. The crescent and star are also symbols of the religious beliefs of the Turkish people. The crescent and star were popular during the Ottoman Empire.
The traditional star had eight points which represented each of the eight states of the empire. Male turkey heads change color While males normally have almost no feathers on their heads , when it comes time to breed, the colors on their noggins can change between red, white and blue — sometimes within seconds, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation. A popular but erroneous myth is that the seal is changed during times of war , so that the eagle faces the arrows in its left talon.
The eagle's head is turned toward the olive branch. In , the average American ate 16 pounds of turkey. The bald eagle was chosen June 20, as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent. The eagle represents freedom. National Symbol on June 20, Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, , the Continental Congress asked Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams to design an official seal for the new nation.
For five shillings he bought a mockingbird from one of the slaves of his father-in-law, John Wayles. It was the first in a procession of singing birds that would always be part of Jefferson's household.
He soon goes off on a bit of a tangent about the eagle representing the United States in general. When Franklin, then in France, wrote to his daughter in Philadelphia it had been nearly two years since the Great Seal of the United States had been adopted by the federal government.
The front of the seal featured a bald eagle holding an olive branch in its right talon and 13 arrows in its left, among other design elements. The Great Seal was meant to visually represent the beliefs and values of the new nation and today continues to be used to authenticate important documents issued by the federal government. The front of the Great Seal of the United States featuring a bald eagle. Wikimedia Commons. Franklin also publicly suggested a rattlesnake as a potential national symbol.
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