How Living with Turkeys Can Teach Us How to Be True Earth Stewards
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While most mainstream biological research is objective and emotionally distant, here is one man who is changing the way we interact and learn about wildlife…and our place on this planet too.
His name is Joe Hutto, and his book later turned into a documentary. While most biologists prefer the standard method of studying wildlife with as little interfarence as possible, Joe prefers to make his studies personal. His methods may seem a bit quirky by some mainstream scientists, but in my opinion he is positively transforming the way we interact with Mother Nature.
His Study
For one year Joe lived with a brood of wild turkeys from the egg all the way to independent adulthood. After a friend dropped off wild turkey eggs on his doorstep, he decided that this was his chance to immerse himself in the life of a turkey. And for him, there was no way better to learn than to literally live life as a wild turkey alongside the developing younglings.
When the eggs first hatched, he made sure that he was the first thing they would see so they would imprint on him as a parent. Throughout their development on some land in Florida, he slept with them, foraged with them, and even learned a multitude of wild turkey sounds to better communicate with them.
To learn more about his experiences, check out his Q&A for his documentary here.
What He Learned
When reading his book or watching his documentary, it is clear that this experience was more than about emperical data; it was about a transformative spiritual journey to understand the intelligence that pervades nature. The only way to find such wisdom is total immersion. If one wants to think like a wild turkey, one must act like a wild turkey. In this case, this means letting go of any pre-concieved notions of turkey intelligence and getting down on their level.
He learned that not only do wild turkeys have a sophisticated form of communication with hundreds of unique sounds that correspond to specific situations, they are so tuned into the rhythms of nature that they can pick up on things that we cannot so easily. For instance, they are able to locate dangerous snakes and tell the difference between edible foods at an early age without having a turkey parent to teach them.
Additionally, he noticed that all the turkeys had distinct personalities, and he established unique relationships with all of them.
“Their language and their understanding of the ecology shows a remarkable intelligence. But their ability to understand the world goes much further than just communication. I came to realize that these young turkeys in many ways were more conscious than I was. I actually felt a sort of embarrassment when I was in their presence - they were so in the moment - and ultimately their experience of that manifested in a kind of joy that I don’t experience and I was very envious of that. I was learning new things about turkeys everyday. But this was not just about how they live their lives - these animals were showing me how to live my life also. We do not have a privileged access to reality. So many of us live either in the past or in the future - and betray the moment. And in some sense we forget to live our lives - and the wild turkeys were aways reminding me to live my life.”
~ Joe Hutto
What We All Can Learn
This sort of study will become more and more normal, because people typically fear what they do not understand. Joe has done a great service to all of humanity with his work, because connecting with wildlife on such a deep level truly opens us up to the inter-connectedness of all organic life.
Wild turkeys, unlike their domesticated cousins, are incredibly dynamic creatures. Their intelligence works on a level that is in many ways above our own, and they can teach us how to better tune to our natural environment.
“I think as humans we have this peculiar predisposition to be always thinking ahead - living a little bit in the future - anticipating the next minute, the next hour, the next day - and we betray the moment. Wild turkeys don’t do that. They are convinced that everything that they need, all their needs, will be met only in the present moment and in this space. The world is not better half mile through the woods, it’s not better an hour from now, and it’s not better tomorrow - that this is as good as it gets. So they constantly reminded me to do better, and to not live in this abstraction of the future, which by definition will never exist. And so we sort of betray our lives in the moment and the wild turkeys reminded me to be present, to be here.”
~ Joe Hutto
This documentary is a real tear-jerker, and you will surely enjoy it. Check it out!
