FossilForKids Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 So just for fun on this fine Thanksgiving morning I thought I would ask a couple of questions: Is there a prehistoric ancestor of the Turkey and if not how long has the modern day Turkey been around. Since plants can become fossilize I was wondering if vegetables could. If so has anyone ever found a fossilize ear of corn or yam? I hope each and everyone of you has a very Happy Thanksgiving! FFK If only my teeth are so prized a million years from now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Corn as we know it hasent been around long enough to fossilize.It was engineered around 2750 B.C..Can't say what it looked like before that .As far as yams,no idea. Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilForKids Posted November 25, 2010 Author Share Posted November 25, 2010 Corn as we know it hasent been around long enough to fossilize.It was engineered around 2750 B.C..Can't say what it looked like before that .As far as yams,no idea. Wasn't corn use by the paleo-indians in North America? FFK If only my teeth are so prized a million years from now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 (edited) Wasn't corn use by the paleo-indians in North America? FFK Yes,but corn as we know it was engineered by the Aztecs/Incas roughly around 2750 B.C. .Dont rebember if their was an edible type before that,hopefully some others will chime in after eating to add more knowledge.At least I chipped in my 2 cents worth before I'M stuffed as normally when getting full on Thanksgiving I am supposed to go into a coma during the first quarter of a good football game.Ahh,Vita bona est. Edited November 25, 2010 by bear-dog Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 Gallinuloides wyomingensis is an Eocene galliform. To say it is an ancestor to the turkey might be a stretch, but it is in the same order. It is more closely related to the South American guans. I know of two good specimens... one at Harvard U and one on display at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. I just googled it and the images google come up with show that a third specimen is in a private collection, or for sale by a dealer. And almost all the pix of fossil birds the google search came up with are indeed NOT gallinuloides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ordovician_Odyssey Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 hey auspex, is the wild turkey related to the ruffed grouse? oh, and guy i just found this of the internet(not sure if its true) but they said that turkeys date back to pliocene. -Shamus The Ordovician enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 hey auspex, is the wild turkey related to the ruffed grouse? They are in the same family, Phasianidae. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ordovician_Odyssey Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 They are in the same family, Phasianidae. thats close! -Shamus The Ordovician enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilForKids Posted November 28, 2010 Author Share Posted November 28, 2010 Auspex also dates back to the [luiocene :lol: If only my teeth are so prized a million years from now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 I have my own period: the Meocene "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Yes, I have an article (Steadman, 1980) that documents the earliest known unquestionable turkey from the Late Pliocene of Nebraska. With the recent shift of the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary this occurrence may now be Early Pleistocene in age. The same article notes a form from the Early Miocene of Florida that shows characters of two subfamilies within the family that includes turkeys and there's a "rather undiagnostic" element from the Late Miocene of Virginia that may be a turkey. One of the two modern species (Meleagris gallopavo) dates back to the Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean). The other (M. ocellata) isn't known from the Pleistocene. My info comes from 1980 so there may be a more recent update. Steadman, D.W. 1980. A Review of the Osteology and Paleontology of Turkeys (Aves: Meleagridinae). Papers in Avian Paleontology Honoring Hildegarde Howard. Contributions in Science Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. hey auspex, is the wild turkey related to the ruffed grouse? oh, and guy i just found this of the internet(not sure if its true) but they said that turkeys date back to pliocene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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