The question mark above means I don’t know if that’s what I’m seeing, so I’d be happy to hear from folks who know more about (a) wild turkeys and/or (b) kin selection.
First, the setting here: Wild turkeys are not native to the area where I live. This is a semi-rural island in western Washington where turkeys were brought for hunting in the middle of the last century and then went feral. My neighborhood, for at least the past 26 years, has been the summer home for various numbers of these wild turkeys who winter in the woods nearby, returning each spring for the breeding season. Recently I’ve seen the hen above with the three young poults wander through now and then accompanied by another hen. I hear turkeys most days now in the neighborhood as they forage through the back yards and lanes around my house.
A couple of weeks ago I heard a major racket down the lane and went out to see what was afoot. I saw two hens and two toms, all cackling and gobbling loudly, the males in full display mode. Male turkeys spread out their feathers and strut around like this to attract hens to breed with them. Most turkey observers (like this one) say one male turkey in an area is dominant and will mate with most of the females, while the lesser males may sneak in to mate while the boss is not looking. This behavior is consistent with basic evolutionary theory: individuals compete to pass on their genes, with the most fit being most successful at that. In turkeys, fitness includes a spectacular plumage display and aggressive behavior at breeding time.
But what I saw down the lane was not consistent with classic competitive behavior that would ensure the dominant turkey’s genes being preserved in the next generation of poults. Hence my question.
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At first, amidst all the clucking and gobbling, I saw what appeared to be violence and an injured turkey. She was lying in a heap on the ground being stomped on by the big tom turkeys. I was in a dither what to do — intervene? — when I saw her stand up and move away joining another hen, evidently unharmed. So I watched for a while.
That hen, with a lighter colored head than the other, returned to the two toms and lay down. DarkerHen walked back and forth nearby as LighterHen steadied herself on the ground with her wings. LessStripey clumsily tried balancing on her back while MoreStripey leaned against him:
Perhaps there was mating although LessStripey fell sideways very quickly. LighterHen walked off, shaking her feathers and MoreStripey poked at LessStripey. It did not appear they were fighting.
The toms resumed their full plumage displays and both hens returned. LighterHen joined LessStripey, and both toms circled around her a couple of times before LessStripey got in a good position on top of her. What seemed odd to me is that MoreStripey appeared to be guiding (?) him, holding him in that position. He was very definitely not competing for access to the female, and neither tom showed any aggression toward each other that I could see.
This is where kin selection comes in. Kin selection is a biological concept positing that individuals will act to help their close relatives reproduce rather than putting themselves first, since their common genes will be present in those offspring anyway. It is a form of altruism since it benefits others over oneself, although the more closely related the individuals, the more benefit is derived from giving instead of taking. It’s been a controversial concept since Darwin first mused upon it in considering the behavior of honeybees. Bill Hamilton, an evolutionary biologist, formulated Hamilton’s Rule in 1964 describing numerically the degree of altruism that can be expected depending on the relatedness of individuals. Could what I saw on this occasion with the turkeys be an example of kin selection? Alex Krakauer, another evolutionary biologist, has written about kin selection in turkeys and what I’m seeing is consistent with his description.
The key factor in this situation is that I’m fairly certain all these turkeys are closely related, even quite inbred since there were not many turkeys released decades ago and no new ones have entered the population that I’m aware of. If so, these two tom turkeys might well be brothers. If so they share at least 50% of their genes. One helping the other is almost as good as mating directly.
I know there was mating going on, but the rest of the behavior is a mystery to me. I’d be very interested to hear from anyone who has some knowledge or insights about this. Kin selection maybe? Or?
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