A snood is the floppy, fleshy appendage that drapes over a turkey’s beak. Toms, jakes, and hens all have snoods. However, a tom’s is longer and more prominent than that of a hen or jake. While it’s easy to dismiss the snood as a vestigial appendage on a turkey’s face, studying it can be a key indicator of a tom’s body language and current mood.
A snood is that strange, fleshy appendage that hangs over a turkey’s beak. Both male and female turkeys have snoods, but the snood is much more prominent on the male turkey. So why does a turkey have a snood in the first place? There are a few possible reasons.
It’s For Attracting Mates
One, it’s part of the head ornamentation that males use, so it’s important in attracting attention from females. The snood on a male turkey can grow quite long, drooping well below his beak. When a male turkey is strutting and courting females, blood flow increases to the snood, causing it to engorge and turn a bright red color. The longer and redder the snood, the more attractive the male appears to be to female turkeys.
Researchers believe snood length and color indicates the health and fitness of the male turkey. Hens seem to prefer toms with the longest, reddest snoods. So in terms of mating success, the more exaggerated snood the better It’s the turkey’s equivalent of a peacock’s feather tail
It May Help Regulate Temperature
The snood is thought to play a role in thermoregulation. As blood circulates through the snood, it may help release excess heat.Turkeys can be seen extending their necks to maximize airflow over the snood on hot days. This behavior allows heat to dissipate from the snood’s surface.
When turkeys get too cold, they tuck their snoods close to the body and out of the wind to conserve warmth. So seasonal changes in snood length may help turkeys adapt to shifts in temperature.
It Has Display Value
The snood forms part of the striking ornamentation on a male turkey’s head. When a male turkey fans his tail, puffs his feathers, and struts, the elongated red snood completes the visual display. The combined effect is to make the male turkey appear larger and more impressive.
Both the dramatic coloring and pendulous nature of the snood contribute to this “look at me” signaling. A male turkey essentially uses his snood to catch the eyes of other turkeys. It gives him visual prominence in the social hierarchy.
It May Help Communication
Some researchers suggest changes in snood size, color, and position may allow turkeys to communicate motivational states. For example, an engorged, darkened snood may signal aggression during a confrontation. A flaccid, pale snood may indicate submission or lack of interest.
By paying attention to a turkey’s snood, other turkeys may be able to infer its mood or intentions. The snood provides important non-verbal cues to support the turkey’s body language and vocalizations. So it likely plays a role in social interaction and communication within turkey flocks.
It Has No Known Purpose in Females
Female turkeys also have snoods, but they are small and non-dominant features. On a hen, the snood is a thin flap of flesh that lies flat on the forehead. It doesn’t change dramatically in size or color.
The function of the snood remains mysterious in female turkeys. Unlike the male’s snood, the hen’s snood can’t be definitively linked to mating, display, or communication. It may help modulate temperature, but its small size means it likely plays only a minor thermoregulatory role.
It Can Get In the Way
While the snood is an asset to male turkeys during breeding season, at other times it seems to be simply an encumbrance. The turkey’s huge snood can interfere with vision and block airflow to the nostrils. Its fragile structure is also prone to damage.
Dominant males will grab and pull the snoods of subordinate males during tussles over hierarchy. Wild turkeys crashing through thick brush often scratch and scrape their snoods on branches and twigs. A torn or injured snood likely impairs function further without providing any offsetting benefits.
It May Have Evolved Through Sexual Selection
Many researchers think turkey snoods evolved primarily through sexual selection for larger and showier ornamentation. Males with exaggerated snoods likely had greater reproductive success, passing along genes for longer, redder snoods to subsequent generations.
Over time, this resulted in the elaborate snoods we see on male turkeys today. The much smaller female snood may represent vestigial traits that remain from when both sexes had simpler, more functional snoods.
The turkey’s snood is a curious structure that plays a prominent role in courtship and display in male turkeys. Female turkeys have small, unremarkable snoods that lack any obvious function. The evolutionary forces that shaped the snood remain unclear.
But it seems the male turkey’s snood evolved largely for attracting mates and signaling dominance rather than serving any practical physical purpose. It’s just another example of the weird and wonderful traits produced by sexual selection and mate choice over the history of a species.
How Aggressive Your Calling Should Be
By visual confirmation and roughly understanding what kind of mood a gobbler is in, an informed hunter can cater their tactics accordingly. For example, a tom with an erect snood and exhibiting pale head colorations is not overly likely to bomb into your calling and decoy setup. This gobbler, or a bachelor group of toms, are more likely to react to subtle calling, paired with a jake or tom decoy.
In the case of a bachelor group of dormant toms, these gobblers are likely not hyper-interested in breeding. Rather, these birds are more likely to feel a sense of confidence that their group can whoop up on a lone jake decoy. In this scenario, a good calling strategy is to put out just a few mild yelps, purely to get the group’s attention and let them know the general whereabouts of a flock of turkeys.
Similarly, if a submissive tom is hanging out in a group of hens, this flock is likely more concerned with survival than anything. Matching your calling with the current vocalizations and emotions of the flock will likely fare better than overwhelming the loafing birds with every call in your turkey vest.
Conversely, a longbeard with a long snood, paired with a full strut and bright red head, elicits a different calling strategy. While it’s impossible to know exactly what call will work in any given situation, this strutting gobbler is likely interested in finding a receptive hen.
Giving this tom the impression that there’s a hen looking to be bred might be what it takes to call him in. In my experience, a good strategy is to start off with soft and subtle calling to take the bird’s temperature. If they respond positively, you should likely continue with subtle calling. If the birds aren’t overly interested in your calls, attempt to increase the intensity of your calls over time. The idea is to imitate an uninterested hen and over the course of a half hour or so, increase the volume, frequency, and intensity of your hen calls. If you play your cards right, you can effectively change the attitude of the flock and coax them into your setup.
What Kind of Mood He’s In
Between dramatic color changes and changing snood length, a male turkey wears his emotions on his head. If you’re reading this article, you’ve likely witnessed the magic of a tom’s chameleon-like head, changing colors from pale red to an intense bright red, and to a starch white and blue combination.
By paying close attention to a turkey’s head, you can surmise a gobbler’s current attitude and likelihood of reacting favorably to your calls and decoy setup. A pale red head and a snood that is erect atop of their beak indicates a turkey in a submissive or passive mood. This gobbler is likely just going about his business without current intentions of breeding or fighting.
When the snood elongates, dangling well below his beak, paired with a brightly colored head, he is experiencing an increased blood flow to his noggin. Whether his head is an intense red color or bleach white, this gobbler is feeling good and strutting his dominance. This gobbler is likely looking to breed or pick a fight with a subordinate tom.
Ask a Veterinarian: What is a Turkey Snood and Does it have a Purpose?
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