Group of turkeys captured on video eerily circling dead cat
Is it a dark ritual or animal instinct?
A Boston man came across a chilling and puzzling scene that involved a group of turkeys and a dead cat in the middle of a road. Twitter user @TheReal_JDavis posted video of the birds slowly circling the feline’s corpse.
“These turkeys trying to give this cat its 10th life,” he wrote in his caption.
Massachusetts wildlife biologist and turkey expert David Scarpitti said the video captures a rare and unusual moment, but it has nothing to do with black magic.
He told Boston magazine that since turkeys are naturally afraid of cats, it’s likely they were poking around to see if the one on the road was a threat, which is known as “predator inspection behavior.” Instead of running the other way, turkeys check to see how big the threat might be.
Turkeys are also known to follow their leader, so one bird in the group likely took on the task of inspecting the cat’s remains, while the others followed along – and they just happened to create a perfect circle.
Regardless of the reasoning behind the strange footage, Scarpitti admits it’s a unique moment.
“It’s not something that’s really ever been documented until today,” he said.
