A wattle is a fleshy caruncle hanging from various parts of the head or neck in several groups of birds and mammals. Caruncles in birds include those found on the face, wattles,

dewlaps A dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin or similar flesh that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. More loosely, it can be various similar structures in the neck area, such as those caused by a double chin or the submandibula ...

, snoods, and earlobes. Wattles are generally paired structures, but may occur as a single structure when it is sometimes known as a dewlap. Wattles are frequently organs of

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. In some birds, caruncles are erectile tissue and may or may not have a feather covering. Wattles are often such a striking morphological characteristic of animals that it features in their common name. For example, the southern and northern cassowaries are known as the double-wattled and single-wattled cassowary, respectively, and a breed of domestic pig is known as the Red Wattle.

Birds

Function

In birds, wattles are often an ornament for courting potential mates. Large wattles are correlated with high testosterone levels, good nutrition, and the ability to evade predators, which in turn indicates a potentially successful mate. Ornamental organs such as wattles may be associated with

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

s coding for disease resistance. In umbrellabirds, the wattle serves to amplify the birds' calls.

Examples

Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s with wattles include: *From the neck or throat ** Birds of the genus ''

Casuarius Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones) and are native to the tropical forest ...

'': the northern, southern, and

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

cassowaries **

Galliformes Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often ...

(e.g.,

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

s) ** Some

vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

s ** Some

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...

s ** The male of the

wattled starling The wattled starling (''Creatophora cinerea'') is a nomadic resident bird in eastern and southern Africa. It is a species of grassland, open woodland, and cultivation. This is the only African starling that appears to show affinities with the As ...

** SomeJohn White. 1790. ''Voyage to New South Wales'' Australian wattlebirds (''Anthochaera'' spp.) ** The New Zealand wattlebirds (Callaeidae), which include the kokako, tieke or saddleback, and the

huia The huia ( ; ; ''Heteralocha acutirostris'') is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was a credible sighting in 1924. It ...

**The

wattled crane The wattled crane (''Grus carunculata'') is a large bird found in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. It is sometimes placed in the monotypic genus ''Bugeranus''. Taxonomy The first formal description of the wattled crane was by the German nat ...

(''Bugeranus carunculatus'') **Three

neotropical bellbird Neotropical bellbird (or simply bellbird) is the common name given to passerine birds of the genus ''Procnias'', found in the Neotropics. They are members of the cotinga family. They are all restricted to tropical or subtropical humid forested ...

species *From below or around the eyes **The

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

wattle-eye or puffback flycatcher **The

wattled jacana The wattled jacana (''Jacana jacana'') is a wader which is a resident breeder from western Panama and Trinidad south through most of South America east of the Andes. Breeding The wattled jacana lays four black-marked brown eggs in a floating n ...

(''Jacana jacana'') **The African wattled lapwing (''Vanellus senegallus'') **Many male

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family (biology), family Phasianidae in the order (biology), order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera na ...

s ** Spectacled tyrant **''

Gracula ''Gracula'' is a genus of mynas, tropical members of the starling family of birds found in southern Asia and introduced to Florida in the United States. Taxonomy The genus ''Gracula'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeu ...

'' hill mynas **

Muscovy duck The Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') is a large duck native to the Americas, from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico south to Argentina and Uruguay. Small wild and feral breeding populations have established themselves in the United Sta ...

(''Cairina moschata'') **The

English carrier pigeon The Carrier or English Carrier is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding. Carriers, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants of the rock dove (''Columba livia''). They have a long ...

Mammals

Mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s with wattles include: *Some domestic

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s have fleshy, fur-covered protuberances, called tassels, hanging on either side of the throat. *Some domestic

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

s, such as the

Kunekune The Kunekune or is a small breed of domestic pig from New Zealand. Kunekune are hairy with a rotund build, and may bear wattles hanging from their lower jaws. Their colour ranges from black and white, to ginger, cream, gold-tip, black, brown, ...

, Lithuanian Native pig, and Red Wattle have a fleshy protuberance hanging either side of the throat.

Gallery

File:Male common pheasant.jpg, A

common pheasant The common pheasant (''Phasianus colchicus'') is a bird in the pheasant family (biology), family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin ''phasianus'', "pheasant". The species name ''colchicus'' is Latin for "of Colchis" (modern day Geor ...

(''Phasianus colchicus'') with bright red facial wattles File:Casuarius casuarius -upper body -captive-8a-2c.jpg, A southern cassowary with double wattles hanging from the throat File:Goat with unusual horns.jpg, A goat with small wattles at the base of its throat File:Red Wattle pig.jpg, Red Wattle pig with wattles at the base of the throat

References