Wattle (anatomy)

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, snoods, and earlobes.

[1][2] Wattles are often such a striking morphological characteristic of animals that they feature in their common name.

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 genes coding for disease resistance.