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Royal Palm turkey

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Royal Palm
Country of originUnited States of America
Traits
Skin colorwhite with bands of metallic black
Classification
APAHeritage breed
A Royal Palm tom

The Royal Palm is a breed of domestic turkey. It is not primarily selected for meat production, and is usually kept as an ornamental bird with a unique appearance, largely white with bands of metallic black.

The Royal Palm first appeared in the 1920s on a farm in Lake Worth, Florida, apparently as a cross between Black, Bronze, Narragansett, and native turkeys.[1] Years of selective breeding followed to stabilize the coloring, and the Royal Palm was finally accepted by the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection in 1971. In Europe, a turkey with similar coloration is sometimes called the Cröllwitzer, Pied, or Black-laced White.[2]

Most heritage turkey breeds declined after the adoption of the Broad Breasted White by the turkey industry; the Royal Palm is an endangered breed and is classified as "watch" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. It is also included in Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste, a catalog of heritage foods in danger of extinction. The Australian and United States both report the breed as endangered to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.[1]

References

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  1. ^ "BREEDS CURRENTLY RECORDED IN THE GLOBAL DATABANK FOR ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES" (PDF). ftp.fao.org. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 14 October 2014.