Why turkeys circle dead things—the creepy vigil, explained

There's certainly something compelling about what seems to be an avian black mass afoot. But what's really going on, according to a 2017 blog post from the National Wild Turkey Federation's Mark Hatfield, has more in common with an Instagram influencer's half-hearted attempt at a full moon ritual than any true witchery. In Hatfield's words, “turkeys are very basic.”

The birds, Hatfield explained are just keeping their distance while deciding whether or not the extremely dead cat in question might be a threat. Hatfield's colleague Tom Hughes speculated to National Geographic at the time that the behavior of the cat, whether it was fully dead or still dying, may have struck the birds as strange and prompted an investigation. The circular nature of their march is just a result of their instinct to stay within the safety of their flock.

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https://www.popsci.com/turkeys-circle-dead-cat/