Just in time for Thanksgiving, we explore turkeys with a wildlife biologist and an anthropologist. Learn the difference between wild and domesticated turkeys, and how the human turkey relationship is ancient, dating back tens of thousands of years in the Americas. The bird that you might eat at your Thanksgiving meal has an extraordinary history, spanning across the globe and back again. This turkeys podcast for kids is mixed with turkey loving music, and comes with a learning guide.

This episode comes with a free Learning Guide.

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Thanksgiving season is upon us, and we wanted to know more about the main course that is so often on our plates: turkeys. We are joined by Clarissa Molina, a wildlife biologist in the doctorate program at University of North Texas in Denton, TX. Clarissa has a passion for understanding wild turkeys. 

Turkeys have an historic wild range that covers almost all of the United States, except Hawaii and Alaska, and Mexico. In the southwest US there are 3 distinct wild species roaming in the deserts, forests and mountains.

Clarissa teaches us the facts about turkeys, from their favorite foods to their goofy goggle songs. Learn about how a turkey’s waddle is more than just beautiful, it’s also like a mood ring, changing color and showing how the turkey is feeling.

Families around the United States will consume over 30,000,000 turkeys at Thanksgiving time, but few of those turkeys are wild. Most are a domesticated breed that has been bred to increase the meat content on the birds.

Then we meet Dr. Cyler Conrad, Cultural Resources Environmental Scientist Risk & Environmental Assessment Group Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico in Anthropology. Dr. Conrad studies the relationship humans and turkeys have had for more than 10,000 years. Turkeys were always an important source of food for people, and their feathers were widely used to make blankets and for cultural and ceremonial purposes. 

Learn more about the ancient use of turkeys in The Children’s Hour’s Brief History of the American Southwest Episode 1: Footprints.

Turkeys and a sheep at First Mesa, Hopi Pueblo Original photograph by Kate Cory, 1905–1912. Courtesy of the Museum of Northern Arizona (MS-208-75.929)

This episode of The Children’s Hour was written and produced by executive producer Katie Stone, with production support from Lyndsay Knecht, Courtney Flatt, Sarah Gabrielli, McKenzie Graunke, Samantha Diatz, and show was recorded at Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Chad Scheer. Amber Shiel writes our learning guides. 

The Children’s Hour is distributed by Native Voice One: The Native American Radio Network.

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