Snoods of mature male turkeys, called toms, are longer and more prominent than female turkeys, called hens, or young male turkeys, called jakes. A 1997 study in the Journal of Avian Biology found ...

Snood size also plays a role in male-on-male competition. Wild turkeys have a wildly competitive social system, with combat and other dominance displays laying the groundwork for pecking order.

Male wild turkeys can weigh up to 25 pounds, and the average female weighs around half that amount. Wild turkeys faced extinction in the early 1900s due to hunting, with the population around just ...

The male poults, or jakes, will generally be kicked out of the group the following spring by dominant gobblers. Wild turkeys were plentiful when European colonists first came to Southern Appalachia.

Adult male Merriam’s wild turkey in Upper Sonoran life zone habitat, Meleagris gallopavo merriami, Photographed at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum … ...

The wild turkey hunting season gets underway today with the youth season. Iowa DNR wildlife biologist Jim Coffey says hunters bagged a record 16,000 birds last year. “We’re expanding a similar ...