Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers.  As I am writing this post the house is warm and filled with the great smell of a roasting turkey (actually, it is a big chicken but you get the point), the apple crumble is sitting on the counter just taunting me with its smell of cinamon and apple (I love apple crumble). Since it is Sunday, we have football playing on the television. I know I am Canadian but we can’t watch hockey all the time.  Besides, you can’t have Thanksgiving without football, right? Although, I did just watch the Bills blow the game in the closing minutes by fumbling a punt, which was terrible since I had Buffalo to cover the spread! But even that can’t ruin the special feeling you get on Thanksgiving.

In light of the festivities, I figured it would be a great time to write about the Wild Turkey! I know, I am not even having turkey for dinner tonight but it is still the universal sign of Thanksgiving! So, enough of setting the mood, let’s get into today’s Wild Fact!  Do you know what a “Snood” is?  How about a “Wattle”? Let me tell you what both of these turkey parts are all about.  The snood is the long, red, fleshy part that grows from the forehead and extends over the bill.  Meanwhile, the wattle is the fleshy growth underneath the turkey’s throat. Yes, these are funny looking features and they are a ton of fun to say but what do they do?  Well, both of these parts have a big role in mate selection.  It is similar to the antlers of a bull moose.  The bigger the snood the better chance that turkey has at mating.  With turkeys, size does matter as it has been proven that females will choose the turkey’s that have the longest snood.  As well, the snood and wattle contain numerous blood vessels close to the surface and will have a cooling effect for the turkey during the hot summer months.

You can learn a lot by watching the snood and wattle of a turkey.  For example, during mating season these body parts will be bright red.  Even more interesting is the fact that these parts can instantly turn blue when the turkey is frightened.  Similarly, when the turkey is not feeling well the snood and the wattle will be a pale colour.  As I said, you can learn a lot about how the turkey is feeling by checking out its snood and wattle. But don’t stare since that is not very polite!

I hope all you Canadians had a great Thanksgiving.  And to all my other readers, I hope you had a great weekend!