My Life as a Turkey

{{Infobox television episode

'''My Life as a Turkey''' is a television episode that premiered in 2011 in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] on [[BBC]] ([[List of Natural World episodes#Series 30|season 30]] of the series ''[[Natural World (TV series)|Natural World]]'', August 1) and in the [[United States|US]] on [[PBS]].

| image =

| caption =

| series = [[Natural World (TV series)|Natural World]] (British), [[Nature (TV series)|Nature]] (US)

| season = 30 (both series)

| episode = 1, 4

| airdate = {{Start date|2011|08|01}}, {{Start date|2011|11|16}}

| writer =

* Rachael Teel

* Joe Hutto

| director =

| photographer = Mark Smith, [[David Allen (television producer)|David Allen]]

| music = Rob Dunstone

| runtime = 53 minutes {{Small|(runtime)}}

| guests = Jeff Palmer (appearing as Joe Hutto in the recreations)

| prev = The Last Grizzly of Paradise Valley, Jungle Eagle

| next = Empire of the Desert Ants, Kangaroo Mob

| episode_list = List of Natural World episodes

}}

"'''My Life as a Turkey'''" is a television episode that premiered in 2011 in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] on [[BBC]] ([[List of Natural World episodes#Series 30|season 30]] of the series ''[[Natural World (TV series)|Natural World]]'', August 1) and in the [[United States|US]] on [[PBS]] ([[Nature (TV series)#Season Thirty|season 30 of the series ''Nature'']], November 16). It won an [[News & Documentary Emmy Award|Emmy Award]] for Outstanding Nature Programming.Emily Yahr (Oct. 2, 2012). ''Washington Post'', [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/pbs-wins-most-news-and-documentary-emmy-awards/2012/10/02/50ac1440-0ccd-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_blog.html "PBS wins most News and Documentary Emmy Awards"] It was based on the book ''Illumination in the Flatwoods''{{cite book |last=Hutto |first=Joe |title=Illumination in the flatwoods: a season with the wild turkey |year=1995 |publisher=Lyons & Burford |location=New York |isbn=1558213902 |oclc=32822345}} by naturalist Joe Hutto, who also co-wrote and hosted the TV program.

==Synopsis==

''My Life as a Turkey'' describes how Hutto raised a brood of wild turkeys. Hutto narrates over a re-creation of his time living with the birds, with actor Jeff Palmer playing Hutto. The turkey chicks [[Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted]] on Hutto as they came out of the egg. He then led them on walks through the Florida woods. He describes how he learned their language and was impressed by their instincts and native intelligence. Eventually, after about a year, they became independent of him. The film shows footage of turkeys at all these ages, and is a re-enactment of the material described in Hutto's book.

== Development ==

In order to get the footage of Palmer living with wild turkeys, PBS recreated Hutto's entire experiment over the course of a year, with Palmer being imprinted by and living with the turkeys. Hutto stated in an interview that they were extremely lucky to have turkeys that had similar personalities to the ones in his book.{{Cite web |last=fultonk |date=2012-11-16 |title=My Life as a Turkey ~ Q&A with Naturalist Joe Hutto {{!}} Nature |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/my-life-as-a-turkey-qa-with-naturalist-joe-hutto/7389/#:~:text=So,%20the%20simplified%20explanation%20is,began%20%E2%80%9Cimprinting%E2%80%9D%20the%20eggs. |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Nature |language=en-US}}

==Reception and media coverage==

Hutto has been profiled in newspapers, with a focus on the program and book.{{cite news|last=Matray|first=Margaret|title=Wyoming naturalist reflects on experience as a parent to wild turkeys|url=http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming-naturalist-reflects-on-experience-as-a-parent-to-wild/article_ed01418a-ee9c-5e72-8399-120d460ad9fd.html|accessdate=5 January 2014|newspaper=[[Casper Star Tribune]]|date=24 November 2011}}{{cite news|last=Uncredited|title=Wyoming naturalist reflects on experience as a parent to wild turkeys|url=http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/wyoming-naturalist-reflects-on-experience-as-a-parent-to-wild/article_81de5785-ae7b-536e-b491-0eed6db513fe.html|accessdate=5 January 2014|newspaper=Billings Gazette|date=29 November 2011}} The book was mentioned in ''[[The New Yorker]]''.{{cite magazine|last=Rothman|first=Joshua|title=Thanksgiving at the New Yorker|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=21 November 2012|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2012/11/thanksgiving-at-the-new-yorker.html|accessdate=5 January 2014}}

==Meaningful quotes==

==Meaningful quotes==

We do not have a privileged access to reality.

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.

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.

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 re

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.”

"I learned many things - but maybe the most important was that we are essentially unaware of the overwhelming complexity that exists all around us. And I’ll never see the world in the same way again."

==Awards==

==Awards==

*[[33rd News & Documentary Emmy Awards|Emmy]] - Outstanding Nature Programming"yahr12">Emily Yahr (Oct. 2, 2012). ''Washington Post'', [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/pbs-wins-most-news-and-documentary-emmy-awards/2012/10/02/50ac1440-0ccd-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_blog.html "PBS wins most News and Documentary Emmy Awards"]> (2012)

*[[33rd News & Documentary Emmy Awards|Emmy]] - Outstanding Nature Programming (2012)

*[[Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival]] - Best Writing{{Cite web|url=http://forestanimalrescue.org/happy-thanksgiving-2/|title=Happy Thanksgiving! – Forest Animal Rescue|date=29 November 2013 }} (2011)

*[[Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival]] - Best Writing{{Cite web|url=http://forestanimalrescue.org/happy-thanksgiving-2/|title=Happy Thanksgiving! – Forest Animal Rescue|date=29 November 2013 }} (2011)