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So it is now November 26th 2020, which is Thanksgiving Day. I know it isn’t yet in America but hell with that I live in another time zone. Some paleoartists may draw a kind of dinosaur with speculative turkey-like wattles to be festively appropriate, but I’ve decided to draw paleo art with an actual fossil turkey species.

10,000 years ago in the Pleistocene epoch of what is now the La Brea Tar Traps in California, USA, it is the month of November and while modern California stays warm all year round, the Pleistocene ice age has led to a climate more similar to present-day Montana, and it has already begun to snow. A thick layer of snow makes it hard for foraging animals to find food, and many also die of the cold. Here, several Californian turkeys (Meleagris californica) try to dig up seeds and nuts from the snow using their feet, but have only meagre success. The deep snow also makes it harder for some animals to tread through the forest, and predators take full advantage of that. A Pleistocene coyote (Canis latrans orcutti), an extinct subspecies of the still-extant coyote, stalks the turkeys from a distance, waiting to pick off weaker birds for food. The coyote, however, is not high-ranking in the food chain here. One of multiple apex predators of La Brea is the saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis. While Smilodon tend to prefer hunting large herbivorous mammals, the tough times of winter means it can’t afford to be picky about its food and will eat anything it can sink its fangs into. As the coyote continues stalking the birds, a full-grown adult Smilodon suddenly pounces out of the woods at the flock of turkeys, sending them into panic and fleeing. A female turkey takes flight to escape in time. However, for the large meter-tall birds taking off is a bit hard and one male, with flashier bare head and neck skin than the female, is unable to lift off in time, providing a kill for the Smilodon. A greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), another species of bird, also runs away. While capable of flight, the roadrunner has a preference for running and escapes doing so. The coyote’s hunt is now foiled, the cat has scared all the birds away. The cat brings its kill away as soon as possible to eat: many other predators would fight it for such an important and hard-earned food source in these desolate times, including wolves, bears and other Smilodon.

Meleagris californica is an extinct species of turkey that lived in Pleistocene California, hence the common name of “Californian turkey”. Despite being quite obscure and not widely known among the palaeontology community, it is actually one of the most common fossil remains found from the La Brea tar pits, but then again when a site has yielded mammoths, dire wolves, Smilodon and more like that a turkey is much less attention-grabbing. The Californian turkey is around the size of the extant wild turkey, but is stockier. Originally put in the genus Pavo along with the extant Asian peafowl, it is now known to be a turkey and not a peacock. I’m not sure if sexual dimorphism is known from this species but both extant Meleagris species have gender differences so why not?

The Pleistocene coyote is an extinct subspecies of the still-extant coyote, and it was larger than extant coyotes, likely to better fend off competition from the many large mammalian carnivores from La Brea, but still would have been less strong than bears and wolves and its ecological role was likely similar to extant coyotes. Pleistocene coyotes were likely more carnivorous than their modern kin judging from their jaws, and were also probably more social, making them more dangerous than extant ones. The extinction of the megafauna it preyed on likely drove it to extinction, combined with completion from the grey wolf, leaving the more adaptable gracile morph only to survive.

The greater roadrunner is a bird that still exists today. While it currently lives in deserts and scrublands, fossil remains show that up until 8,000 years ago it lived mainly in woodlands and has changed to live in a different habitat since. Nowadays, human development of its desert home is actually driving it to move back into woodland habitats.

Smilodon fatalis is one of the most famous Cenozoic animals of all time and I shouldn’t have to introduce it. I based its colours on the Amur leopard since that seemed to match its habitat best among all felids. No, I’m not putting droopy lips on it.

Also the trees making up the forest are Thuja plicata, the Pacific red cedar or western arborvitae.

God I shouldn’t be up so late posting this just to get it as early on Thanksgiving Day as possible.

First Meleagris californica on DA (I think, it’s harder to check if the animal has a common name)!

Description
So it is now November 26th 2020, which is Thanksgiving Day. I know it isn’t yet in America but hell with that I live in another time zone. Some paleoartists may draw a kind of dinosaur with speculative turkey-like wattles to be festively appropriate, but I’ve decided to draw paleo art with an actual fossil turkey species.

10,000 years ago in the Pleistocene epoch of what is now the La Brea Tar Traps in California, USA, it is the month of November and while modern California stays warm all year round, the Pleistocene ice age has led to a climate more similar to present-day Montana, and it has already begun to snow. A thick layer of snow makes it hard for foraging animals to find food, and many also die of the cold. Here, several Californian turkeys (Meleagris californica) try to dig up seeds and nuts from the snow using their feet, but have only meagre success. The deep snow also makes it harder for some animals to tread through the forest, and predators take full advantage of that. A Pleistocene coyote (Canis latrans orcutti), an extinct subspecies of the still-extant coyote, stalks the turkeys from a distance, waiting to pick off weaker birds for food. The coyote, however, is not high-ranking in the food chain here. One of multiple apex predators of La Brea is the saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis. While Smilodon tend to prefer hunting large herbivorous mammals, the tough times of winter means it can’t afford to be picky about its food and will eat anything it can sink its fangs into. As the coyote continues stalking the birds, a full-grown adult Smilodon suddenly pounces out of the woods at the flock of turkeys, sending them into panic and fleeing. A female turkey takes flight to escape in time. However, for the large meter-tall birds taking off is a bit hard and one male, with flashier bare head and neck skin than the female, is unable to lift off in time, providing a kill for the Smilodon. A greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), another species of bird, also runs away. While capable of flight, the roadrunner has a preference for running and escapes doing so. The coyote’s hunt is now foiled, the cat has scared all the birds away. The cat brings its kill away as soon as possible to eat: many other predators would fight it for such an important and hard-earned food source in these desolate times, including wolves, bears and other Smilodon.

Meleagris californica is an extinct species of turkey that lived in Pleistocene California, hence the common name of “Californian turkey”. Despite being quite obscure and not widely known among the palaeontology community, it is actually one of the most common fossil remains found from the La Brea tar pits, but then again when a site has yielded mammoths, dire wolves, Smilodon and more like that a turkey is much less attention-grabbing. The Californian turkey is around the size of the extant wild turkey, but is stockier. Originally put in the genus Pavo along with the extant Asian peafowl, it is now known to be a turkey and not a peacock. I’m not sure if sexual dimorphism is known from this species but both extant Meleagris species have gender differences so why not?

The Pleistocene coyote is an extinct subspecies of the still-extant coyote, and it was larger than extant coyotes, likely to better fend off competition from the many large mammalian carnivores from La Brea, but still would have been less strong than bears and wolves and its ecological role was likely similar to extant coyotes. Pleistocene coyotes were likely more carnivorous than their modern kin judging from their jaws, and were also probably more social, making them more dangerous than extant ones. The extinction of the megafauna it preyed on likely drove it to extinction, combined with completion from the grey wolf, leaving the more adaptable gracile morph only to survive.

The greater roadrunner is a bird that still exists today. While it currently lives in deserts and scrublands, fossil remains show that up until 8,000 years ago it lived mainly in woodlands and has changed to live in a different habitat since. Nowadays, human development of its desert home is actually driving it to move back into woodland habitats.

Smilodon fatalis is one of the most famous Cenozoic animals of all time and I shouldn’t have to introduce it. I based its colours on the Amur leopard since that seemed to match its habitat best among all felids. No, I’m not putting droopy lips on it.

Also the trees making up the forest are Thuja plicata, the Pacific red cedar or western arborvitae.

God I shouldn’t be up so late posting this just to get it as early on Thanksgiving Day as possible.

First Meleagris californica on DA (I think, it’s harder to check if the animal has a common name)!