Our turkeys have some big personalities!
If you’ve visited the Zoo, you’ve likely met a lot of our more than 800 animal residents. Some animals are easy to spot, but others are often not as easy to see because of their habitat set up, their personalities or their sleep cycles among other things. We wanted to start a “Meet the Animals” section of our blog to introduce you to some of the residents that you may (or may not have) met yet!
Blending in with their habitat’s lush foliage, it can be easy to walk by the members of our turkey flock when visiting our Wild Florida loop. Even more deceiving – they all blend in with each other! It takes a trained eye to be able to tell who is who amongst the flock. That’s why our wild turkeys are this month’s “Meet the Animals” stars.
Giblet incubating “the Casseroles” as chicks.
We have ten turkeys in total that span three generations! Giblet and Green Bean Casserole are our matriarch and patriarch of the group. They welcomed three chicks back in the fall of 2022. Tater Tot Casserole, Cornbread Casserole, and Sweet Potato Casserole, lovingly referred to as “the Casseroles,” are the older siblings in the flock. Then came “the Breads”: Garlic Knot, Pillsbury, Cinnamon Roll, and Panini. Our tenth turkey, Buffalo Chicken Biscuit, was introduced to the flock in 2023 to help build our turkey family.
Each turkey has their own personality, with some being more dominant and others being more laid-back. For example, Buffalo Chicken Biscuit acts like a typical tom, an adult male turkey. He’s bold, loud and “lives to protect his flock,” said Wild Florida Area Supervisor Christen. However, Green Bean Casserole, also a tom, is gentle and calm.
When it comes to the younger turkeys, there are notable differences between the two sibling groups as well. “The Breads” were all
“The Breads” were hand-raised by their animal care team.
hand-raised by their animal care team, so they love to spend time following their keepers around and seeking out extra attention. Panini is especially interested in being the center of attention. “The Casseroles,” however, tend to be more independent and like to go about their turkey day undisturbed.
“I love working with the turkeys because they have big personalities,” said Christen. “They are each so different, and I love the little groups they hang out in.”
Our turkeys all get along well with one another and their habitat mates, our six deer and a sandhill crane, Carter. Carter tends to think he’s a turkey, as well, and you can often see him following the group around and mimicking turkey behaviors.
You can usually spot the turkeys dust bathing, perching or foraging for food throughout the day. Our flock loves foraging for bugs in particular, so our team enjoys setting up enrichment items that have the turkeys scratching at dirt or hay piles to uncover bugs hidden underneath!
Like all our animal residents, our turkeys spend a portion of their day working on training behaviors with their keepers. Their team has taught them to step up on scales to get voluntary weights from them. This is an important behavior for the turkeys to learn so we can better track their health in a non-stressful way. Recall training is another important behavior that the flock has gotten quite good at.
With nearly a dozen turkeys under our care, we are not planning on expanding our flock anytime soon. However, we will be sure to keep you in the loop with any exciting turkey news in the future!
Brevard Zoo is an independent, not-for-profit organization that receives no recurring government funding for our operating costs. Your generous support enables us to continue to serve our community and continue our vital animal wellness, education and conservation programs.
