"A fantastic success story": How brush turkeys are taking over

July 17, 2024 7:28 PM

"A fantastic success story": How brush turkeys are taking over Australian cities. Researchers have charted the historical crash, comeback and conquest of cities by the Australian brush turkey.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (8 comments total)

We've got a couple of these (a nesting pair) that run-around our neighborhood and apartment buildings. They can get surprisingly high up in the trees. Havent seen them tear apart the trash yet.
posted by LizBoBiz at 8:12 PM on July 17 [1 favorite]

Dr Hall said urban turkey numbers could really explode if cat curfews were put in place.
😾🏠↘️🐾🐾🐾🌆🦃🍴
posted by clavdivs at 8:33 PM on July 17 [3 favorites]

Urban Turkey… wasn’t that John Travolta and Sally Field?
posted by credulous at 8:58 PM on July 17 [1 favorite]

I see a a few brush turkeys around North Sydney where I work... but visited Brisbane recently and it was nuts how many there were. Really something.
posted by misterbee at 9:01 PM on July 17

Far rather have the Turkeys taking over than the asses.

Mind you, Donkeys are pretty chill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhO-FP-eDb8
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:03 PM on July 17

This tracks—I first saw one on a visit to Sydney's northern suburbs in 2017, and had never seen one before in my many years of visiting the city from the 1970s onwards.

That image of the old recipe no doubt explains a lot. People had a lot more guns in those days for potting the wildlife for a feed. (Not just native wildlife, but also rabbits.)
posted by rory at 2:34 AM on July 18

What to do if a brush-turkey builds a mound in your garden.
posted by rory at 2:40 AM on July 18

Saw a few visiting Queensland a few months back - for the record they're not related to traditional turkeys
posted by mbo at 2:46 AM on July 18