The wild turkey is instantly recognizable due to the striking, featherless skin covering its head and neck, especially dramatic in the male, or tom. This bare skin is adorned with various fleshy appendages that change color and size rapidly. One unique and noticeable part is the snood, a highly dynamic structure that hangs over the beak.
Defining the Snood and Other Head Features
The snood is an erectile, fleshy appendage that projects from the turkey’s forehead, resting just above the beak. When relaxed, the snood appears short and pale, often measuring only a few centimeters. This structure is highly vascular, packed with blood vessels, which allows its appearance to change drastically based on blood flow.
The snood is one of several fleshy adornments, collectively known as caruncles, found on a turkey’s head and neck. Caruncles are small, bumpy growths scattered across the head. The wattle, sometimes called a dewlap, is another prominent feature, consisting of a flap of skin hanging from the throat and chin. While hens possess smaller versions, these features are most pronounced and visually striking in the male turkey.
The Snood’s Primary Function: Sexual Selection
The snood functions as a powerful visual signal in the turkey’s social and reproductive interactions. During the breeding season, a tom’s snood rapidly changes in size, color, and texture. When a male is excited, displaying dominance, or courting a female, the snood engorges with blood, elongating and becoming intensely red, white, or blue.
This transformation is a core component of the male’s courtship display, known as “strutting.” Female turkeys, or hens, actively use the appearance of the snood to evaluate potential mates. Studies have shown that hens consistently prefer to mate with males that exhibit the longest snoods, even when presented with artificial models that differ by only a few millimeters in snood length.
A long, vibrant snood signals dominance and genetic quality. In addition to attracting females, the snood plays a role in intrasexual competition, with rival males deferring to toms that have noticeably longer snoods. The snood can extend from a contracted few centimeters to over 15 centimeters when fully engorged, making it a clear banner of a male’s immediate social status.
Snoods as a Health and Vigor Indicator
Beyond courtship displays, the snood serves as an honest physiological signal of the turkey’s overall health and vitality. The vibrant color of an excited snood depends on robust blood circulation, demonstrating a healthy cardiovascular system. This coloration is difficult to fake, meaning only a truly fit male can sustain the most impressive display.
The snood’s length and appearance are negatively correlated with the presence of parasites, particularly intestinal coccidia. A tom with a heavy parasite load will have a shorter, paler snood because the physiological stress prevents the bird from maintaining the structure’s full size and color. Therefore, a hen selecting a male with a long, bright snood is effectively choosing a partner who has demonstrated superior resistance to common pathogens.
The physiological truth conveyed by the snood makes it a reliable indicator of a male’s genetic quality. A pale or shriveled snood can signal illness, anemia, or poor condition to both rivals and potential mates. This combination of behavioral signaling and physiological honesty has made the turkey’s snood a highly specialized and important structure for reproductive success.