Muzzle
The bare, moist skin of the nose and upper lip, whose ridges form a print unique to each animal.
Also: nose, nose pad
The muzzle is the hairless area around the nostrils and upper lip. In healthy cattle it is usually cool and moist. Its skin is covered with ridges and beads in a pattern that differs from animal to animal, much like a human fingerprint, and muzzle prints pressed on paper have long been used to identify cattle; camera-based systems now read them too. Muzzle colour is part of many breed standards: black in some breeds, pink or flesh-coloured in others, and a pale ring around a dark muzzle is typical of the Jersey and the Brown Swiss. Halters and nose rings are fitted around it.