Editing Turkey (bird) (section)

==Anatomy==
[[File:Anatomy of turkey head.jpg|thumb|200px|Anatomical structures on the head and throat of a domestic turkey. 1. caruncles, 2. snood, 3. wattle (dewlap), 4. major caruncle, 5. beard]]
In anatomical terms, a ''snood'' is an erectile, fleshy protuberance on the forehead of turkeys. Most of the time when the turkey is in a relaxed state, the snood is pale and 2–3&nbsp;cm long. However, when the male begins strutting (the courtship display), the snood engorges with blood, becomes redder and elongates several centimeters, hanging well below the beak (see image).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wild.enature.com/blog/snoods-and-wattles-a-turkeys-story/|title=Snoods and wattles? A turkey's story|author=ENature.com|year=2010|access-date=3 May 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203230245/http://wild.enature.com/blog/snoods-and-wattles-a-turkeys-story|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2005/nov/skillbuilder/|title=Know your turkey parts.|author=Graves, R.A.|year=2005|access-date=3 May 2013|archive-date=23 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123184340/https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2005/nov/skillbuilder/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Snoods are just one of the [[Caruncle (bird anatomy)|caruncle]]s (small, fleshy excrescences) that can be found on turkeys.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickson |first=James G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oVICEKm1U04C&pg=PA33 |title=The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management |date=1992 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-0-8117-1859-2 |pages=33 |language=en}}</ref>

While fighting, commercial turkeys often peck and pull at the snood, causing damage and bleeding.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Boden |first1=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZpCDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA235 |title=Black's Student Veterinary Dictionary |last2=Andrews |first2=Anthony |date=2017-03-24 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4729-3203-7 |pages=235 |language=en}}</ref> This often leads to further injurious pecking by other turkeys and sometimes results in [[Cannibalism (poultry)|cannibalism]]. To prevent this, some farmers cut off the snood when the chick is young, a process known as "de-snooding".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boden |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxAD2cWqYI0C&pg=PA133 |title=Black's Veterinary Dictionary |date=1998 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-389-21017-7 |pages=133 |language=en}}</ref>

The snood can be between {{convert|1|and|6|in|cm|0|order=flip}} in length depending on the turkey's sex, health, and mood.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-a-birds-snood-385372|title=The Turkey's Snood|author=Melissa Mayntz|date=28 August 2019|access-date=28 November 2019|archive-date=25 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225024000/https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-a-birds-snood-385372|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Function===
The snood functions in both intersexual and intrasexual [[Selection (biology)|selection]]. Captive female wild turkeys prefer to mate with long-snooded males, and during [[Dyad (sociology)|dyadic]] interactions, male turkeys defer to males with relatively longer snoods. These results were demonstrated using both live males and controlled artificial models of males. Data on the parasite burdens of free-living wild turkeys revealed a negative correlation between snood length and [[Protozoan infection|infection]] with intestinal [[coccidia]], deleterious protozoan parasites. This indicates that in the wild, the long-snooded males preferred by females and avoided by males seemed to be resistant to coccidial infection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://olemiss.edu/depts/biology/people/faculty/buchholz/mate.php|title=Mate choice research|author=Buchholz, R.|access-date=3 May 2013|archive-date=16 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116041654/http://olemiss.edu/depts/biology/people/faculty/buchholz/mate.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ny2022">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/travel/wild-turkeys-mates.html|title=How Wild Turkeys Find Love|author=Anne Readel|work=The New York Times |date=21 November 2022 |access-date=21 Nov 2022}}</ref> Scientists also conducted a study on 500 male turkeys, gathering data on their snood lengths and blood samples for [[immune system]] functionality. They discovered a similar negative correlation. The presence of more [[red blood cell]]s when the snood is not removed will help to fight off unwanted invaders in their immune system, explaining this trend.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Buchholz |first1=R. |last2=Jones Dukes |first2=M. D. |last3=Hecht |first3=S. |last4=Findley |first4=A. M. |date=2004 |title=Investigating the turkey's 'snood' as a morphological marker of heritable disease resistance |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0388.2004.00449.x |journal=Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics |language=en |volume=121 |issue=3 |pages=176–185 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0388.2004.00449.x |issn=0931-2668 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |access-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307011036/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0388.2004.00449.x |url-status=live }}</ref>