Meet Fred the Tap-Dancing Turkey | Short Film Showcase | National Geographic

Fred, oh my goodness, he just deserves such a flower.

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Introduction: In Northern California lies a place so divine, where rolling hills meet redwoods and the sun doth shine. Where animals who are rescued now roam free. Rancho Compassion is the name of this sanctuary. So, Jasper, that's Angel; she's brown, and then Lou is the big black [Music] cow.

And at the sanctuary lives a resident so charming. He's warm, gregarious, and oh so disarming. His plumage divine, his waddle bright red. I'm pleased to introduce you to a turkey named Fred.

The Helix school's coming today. I'm waiting for them; they'll be here any minute. No, there's Fred inside. Do you remember Fred? Yeah, Freddy, Freddy the turkey. Let's walk towards the barn if that's okay.

Yeah, say hi to Fred. Hi, Fred! Oh, Fred, who's that? Do you notice the color of Fred's head? How it's changed a little bit? Was it really red when he first got here?

Yeah, why? So he's a little more relaxed. It's like a mood ring.

Yeah, okay, yeah.

Oh, so it changes colors?

Yeah, with his mood also or like the temperature, what his body is at? Yeah, dancing with Fred yet today though. We had one tap dance; maybe that will help.

Yeah, show! So our turkey here is Fred Aair, and he got his name because he does a little tap dance for people. Like, you know the famous Fred Astaire? He's doing his tap dance for you, Jasper.

Yes, he's so excited! It's kind of made my day. You know, Fred Aair is Rancho Compassion's ambassador. Fred Aair is the greeting committee. He is the first to come out and greet everybody and he shows all of his beautiful plumage.

He'll walk right up to you and parade around you, give you all kinds of angles so you can see just how glorious and fabulous he is. What he's communicating is, "Welcome, this is my home, my territory."

He's the head honcho; he's the boss around here, and we let him claim that [Music] title. We love to just like yell his name, Fred, and then he sends out a gobble in return.

But Fred Aair wasn't always destined to thrive, for if he hadn't been rescued, he wouldn't be alive. Fred, Stan, and Ginger Rogers, his former mate, were rescued from some sort of heritage turkey operation getting ready to sell Fred and Ginger and all these other turkeys for Thanksgiving.

She's over there; carries that way. But now at the sanctuary, Fred's safe as can be, okay? Living a life where he's loved and free.

So upon waking up, when you open up the doors, he'll jump down from where he's perching, and it's this huge loud sound. It's almost like a plane taking off but can't quite take off, and then he starts his day.

Oh hi, Mr. Fred! Good morning! Fred just knows how to handle himself with the ladies, and it doesn't even matter what species you are. You don't even have to be a turkey; you can be a human being.

When you see Fred strutting his stuff, you are seeing a full-on courting ritual. So you're going to see him fill up his chest with air, and he's going to expel all of that air at once while taking sort of a big stride forward.

At the same time, he's dragging his tail feathers on the ground, producing another sound effect. He's also going to be vibrating his feathers. All of this behavior is called drumming, and then he might do a tap dance for you—hear some stamping.

And it's not just sounds that Fred creates; he also changes colors for potential mates. You're going to see reds, you're going to see blues, you're going to see purples.

You're going to see that his snood, which is this dangly thing in front of his beak, is elongated. Normally, it's retracted into a little cone right on top of his beak. All of these features that he's going to use to communicate, "This is his territory, and he is a suitable mate."

How you doing, mister? Oh, you going to get me? Hey, that's not very nice. You going to eat his tail feathers, Fred? Now that's not very nice either.

Everyone's getting worked up 'cause it's molting season in the sanctuary. Fred, the jester of the crew, pecks at people's faces causing quite a halloo. He chases those who guard themselves with a rake, but Smokey, his dear friend, also knows how to prank.

At mealtime, Fred and Smokey share their delight, from a bowl or from a hand; they love to take a bite. And in the summer heat, some animals opt for a tan, while Fred seeks the shade or cools off by the fan.

One horse and a cow to the apple? Yeah, if you bring some apples, we could feed them to the cow.

Yeah, I love it! I love that idea. A goat too? Absolutely! Yes, let's do that!

Okay, have a good rest of your day, everybody!

Yes, thank you! We have started a youth program where monthly students come out for a field trip. And last year we had a few visits from a school called The Hunt School in San Anelo.

At the end of the school year last year, the teachers had the students write about favorite moments of the year that they had. And a handful of the kids drew Fred and said that that was their favorite part of the school year, which was hanging out at Rancho Compassion with Fred Aair.

"My favorite memory from the school year is going to the animal sanctuary. I liked seeing Fred the ch. I got to have him sit in my lap. There were lots of other animals too. Best field trip ever!"

You know, we often assume that animals are different from human beings—they don't have the same needs. But in terms of the need to communicate, to relate, to be with others, all species have the same needs, even turkeys.

I wish more people understood how family-oriented they are. They're really sensitive creatures. When we lump them all into some sort of monolithic group and deem them as unintelligent, or unfeeling, or unempathetic, then we're really missing out on the ability to have a very enriching interspecies relationship.

It's really hard to imagine seeing someone sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner and carve a turkey, knowing how deep their feelings are—how much they're like us. And or your dog or cat.

Oh, Mr. Handsome! Oh yes, the love that they bestow upon us—it's not something we think about. We have to deny that cognition about the capacity for animals to feel if we're going to take a bite of that [Music] turkey.

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