Editing Turkey (bird) (section)

===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>