#WHAT IS A SNOOD ON A TURKEY FREE#
And males that are free of parasites are probably more dominant over other males.
Buchholz suggests that if this is true, it might be a case of females choosing males with good genes. Long snooded males are more resistant to parasitic infections. It turns out that the longer the snood a male has the fewer intestinal parasites he carries. But what is it about a long snood? What does it signal? Healthy, wealthy or wise? Females were attracted to a long snood and males deferred to other males with longer snoods. The head, neck, snood and wattle are all reddish colored until the male turkey. Ask any turkey hunter about the sport and he or she will wax eloquent. He did show that a long snood is indeed selected by females, but males also select for it. Big Bird, of Sesame Street fame, is actually dressed in turkey feathers. A primer on snoods, dewlaps and other fleshy appendages. However, the snood is a great indicator of a gobblers mood. But that still doesn’t explain the long snood. Getting to know a turkeys body language better can truly help you this hunting season. So there is a clear physical reason for the bare skin. Snood or no snood, he needs his radiator. They are crucial for cooling down strutting tom when he is exerting himself on a hot day. Buchholz designed some fancy mating tests, checked out the health of the males, and eureka, the answers to snood fashion were discovered.įirst, Buchholz found a non-sexual function for the bare parts on the head. Males mate with multiple females (called polygyny), and the sexes look very different (sexually dimorphic). Richard Buchholz, a biologist from the University of Mississippi, pondered these very questions and Wild Turkeys proved to be a perfect study animal. If this is true, why would female turkeys prefer a big snood? Is this simply a sexy ornament or is it perhaps a signal of worthiness? Darwin was first to suggest that mate choice and competition for mates might be a selective pressure that shapes the evolution of populations. Darwin smile with thoughts of sexual selection. Huge collection, amazing choice, 100+ million high quality, affordable RF and RM images. This bit of bird bling-bling would probably make Mr. Find the perfect turkey snood stock photo. When tom turkey is just chilling, his snood can be fairly short, but when he struts for the ladies his snood engorges with blood and hangs awkwardly off his bill. The snood is a fleshy appendage that attaches just above the beak. But if you were a female turkey, you’d be looking at the snood. How do you choose your turkey? It might be by weight.