The peacock | Facts & Information

The peacock ( Pavo cristatus) is a bird of the Peacock family (Phasianidae), order Galliformes. The peacock can be considered a decorative bird, the male has a special morphological appearance when the tail is open in The Shape of a fan.

Birds currently live under foma domestica spread across the globe. It can also be seen in parks, as it is a sedentary bird that prefers not to leave its place.

Peacock Feed

Peacocks are omnivorous and their diet includes: plants, ants, seeds, locusts, termites, ticks, flower petals. They can also feed on reptiles, amphibians and arthropods.

The birds start looking for food in the early morning and evening during dusk, their food being also made up of young snakes. They are highly prized birds in India because they also consume young Cobras.

Peacock Features

The tail of a peacock contains over 200 feathers, each feather being decorated with spots that resemble eyes. The male Indian peacock has blue and green feathers on the head, neck and chest.

Its train is made up of bronze and green feathers, on which there are numerous "eyes", which are more visible when the tail is unfolded. The feathers that make up the train are actually extensions, and not the main feathers.

The feathers that make up the true tail of the Peacock are short, gray in color and can be seen from behind when the train is unfolded.

Peacocks display their train when they want to attract the attention of a female to mate with it. During the moulting season, their train is sparse, and then their tail made up of short grey feathers can be seen best.

The female peacock does not have feathers in bright colors like the male, this having a banal appearance, as is the case in many species of birds. The feathers of the female are brownish, those on the abdomen are slightly lighter in color, and on the neck have an iridescent green portion.

It also lacks the male's train. Both females and males have some ridges at the top of their heads.

The green peacock differs from the indian peacock in that the male has green and gold plumage, and the wings are black with a flash of blue. Unlike the female of the Indian peacock, the female of the green peacock resembles the male quite a lot, only that its train has shorter feathers and the shades of feathers on the body are less iridescent.

In the months when the male is shedding, it is quite difficult to distinguish the male from the female.

A peacock can measure up to 2.3 meters long, the female being smaller and measuring only 86 centimeters. The train of a peacock can measure 1.2-1.5 meters. The male weighs between 4 and 5.8 kilograms and the female weighs between 2.7 and 4 kilograms.

Both the female and the male peacock have some metatarsal Spurs, with which they can defend themselves from predators. The peacock has strong legs, each foot having 4 fingers, 3 of which are facing forward and one facing backwards. Because their wings are smaller compared to the rest of the body, peacocks are not capable of too long flights.

Peacock Breeding

A peacock is a classic example of natural selection based on physical appearance, as females prefer to mate only with the most beautiful males and who have the most "eyes" on the train. It turns out that puppies made with the males that have the largest "eyes" on the train, are the largest, healthiest and the ones that have the best chance of surviving.

To court females, the Peacock will open its train and shake its feathers in front of them. He will walk with his back to the female who seems receptive, then turn sharply to show her the magnificent train, then take a few steps back and lean towards her.

After that the male makes some sounds similar to the Rooster, only much louder. If the Peacock manages to impress the female, she will join her harem, the peacock being polygamous, like most birds that have impressive plumage.

The males play no role in raising the offspring, the female being the only one in charge of them. The female reaches sexual maturity at the age of 2 years and the male at the age of 3 years. The female lays between 6 and 12 brown eggs from April to September.

It lays its eggs in a nest on the ground and lined with grass. The female hatches the eggs for 28 days. At birth, the chicks are around 100 grams and are covered with feathers. They can fly a few weeks after birth.

They learn to fly early so they can climb trees with their mother, where they are safe from predators. The female then teaches them to feed and make sounds. Peacocks develop their train only from the age of 3, when they reach sexual maturity. A peacock can live between 40 and 50 years. The peacock is in danger of extinction due to the man who hunted it intensively and its habitat was destroyed.