SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is redefining Turkey Day by shining a spotlight on a turkey not found on Thanksgiving: the ocellated turkey.

The Safari Park has been working with turkeys regularly since the 1970s.

“These beautiful birds are becoming increasingly rare to find in zoos, and before this female turkey hatched in 2023, the last chick at the Safari Park hatched 17 years ago,” said Amanda Martinez, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, a nonprofit conservation organization, which operates the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.

Ocellated turkeys have iridescent feathers and an elaborate courtship display.

The word “ocellated” comes from the Latin word “ocellus,” meaning “little eye,” and refers to eye-like circular markings found on animals. Ocellated turkeys fan out their feathers during courtship to attract mates or assert dominance, revealing these circular markings, Martinez explained. This behavior also intimidates rivals or scares off predators by appearing larger.

“Although this female turkey doesn’t have a name, she definitely has a personality,” Martinez said of the ocellid turkey pictured. “She can be bold and bold at times and will even loudly spread her feathers to show dominance.”

The Safari Park recently welcomed a three-year-old male turkey from a partner organization, raising the possibility of another breeding on the horizon, Martinez noted.

Ocellated turkeys are endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico and parts of northern Belize and northern Guatemala.

Threats to this species include habitat loss and destruction, hunting and poaching, climate change, predators in the wild, and human-wildlife conflict. They are classified as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.