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2Australian Brush Turkey
Alectura lathami
Other Names:
- Scrub Turkey
- Wild Turkey
Description:
60-70 centimetres long with black feathers, red head, yellow throat, and a flat tail.
Habitat:
Brush Turkeys live in rainforests and can venture to dry scrubs.
Diet:
Brush turkeys scratch leaf litter and break rotting logs with their feet in order to find insects, seeds, and fallen fruit to eat. Sometimes turkeys eat fruit that is ripening on trees branches (Ryan and Burwell 2000, 257).
Gender:
Male turkeys have a larger hanging wattle under their throat. Turkey chicks have mustard brown feathers. They burrow out of the mound after hatching and can fly after a few hours (Ryan and Burwell 2000, 257).
Breeding:
Male turkeys build large mounds of vegetable matter for female turkeys to lay their eggs in. The mounds are about four metres wide and one metre high. Inside the mound, the eggs are incubated by the heat of the rotting vegetable matter. (Ryan and Burwell 2000, 256). The male turkey checks and modifies the temperature of the mound by modifying the amount of the vegetable matter to keep it within 33 - 38 degrees Celsius.
Predators:
Adult brush turkeys have no predators. However, animals that burrow into the mound, like goannas, often eat Turkey eggs.
In Brisbane Suburbia
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