Information about Indian Peafowl

Indian Peafowl
An Indian Peacock. An Indian Peacock.
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae Genus: Pavo Species: P. cristatus
Binomial name
Pavo cristatus Linnaeus, 1758

The Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus also known as the Common Peafowl or the Blue Peafowl is one of the species of bird in the genus Pavo of the Phasianidae family known as peafowl. The Indian Peafowl is a resident breeder in the Indian subcontinent. The peacock is the national bird of India. The species is found in dry semi-desert grasslands, scrub and deciduous forests. It forages and nests on the ground but roosts on top of trees. It eats mainly seeds, but also some insects, fruits and reptiles.

Females are about 86 cm (34 in) long and weigh about 3.4 kg (7.4 lbs), while males average at about 2.12 m (7.3 ft) in full breeding plumage (107 cm/42 in when not) and weigh about 5 kg (11 lbs). The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen. The Indian Peacock has iridescent blue-green plumage. The upper tail coverts on its back are elongated and ornate with an eye at the end of each feather. These are the Peacock's display feathers. The female plumage is a mixture of dull green, grey and iridescent blue, with the greenish-grey predominating. In the breeding season, females stand apart by lacking the long 'tail feathers' also known as train, and in the non-breeding season they can be distinguished from males by the green colour of the neck as opposed to the blue on the males.

Peafowl are most notable for the male's extravagant display feathers, despite actually growing from their back is known as a 'tail' and also known as a train, a result of sexual selection, which it displays as part of courtship. This train is in reality not the tail but the enormously elongated upper tail coverts. The tail itself is brown and short as in the peahen.

Peacock mating call (helpinfo)



They lay a clutch of 4-8 eggs which take 28 days to hatch. The eggs are light brown and are laid every other day usually in the afternoon. The male does not assist with the rearing, and is polygamous with up to six hens.

Mutations

Peafowl are sometimes kept as domesticated animals for decoration. Many genetic mutations exist, such as the Black-Shouldered, Oaten, White, White-Eyed, Purple, Opal, Pied, and Midnight.

The "Black-Shouldered" mutant was originally thought to be a distinct subspecies, Pavo cristatus nigripennis.

The White Peafowl is often mistaken for an albino, but its iris is dark, not red, and is a recessive mutation.

Hybridization and concerns

The Indian Peafowl can hybridise with the closely related Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus, in captivity and creates offspring called "Spauldings" or "Spaldings". The original "Spalding" was a hybrid between a female of the Black-Shouldered mutation of the Indian Peafowl, with a male of the nominate Java subspecies of the Green Peafowl, though some believe it was really a cross between a Black-Shouldered male with a Green Peafowl hen of the subspecies imperator. Even though there is no natural range overlap, hybridization occurs in the wild when feral populations of one of the species overlaps another species. Hybridization has created some concern as the Green Peafowl is endangered.

Indian Peafowl and humans

In the Middle Ages, the flesh of the Indian Peafowl was highly prestigious and believed to be imperishable. Thanks to its reputation of being immortal it was also a symbol of the Catholic church. Though its meat is tough and not well-suited for consumption, it was prized due to being a luxury and often domesticated for human consumption by the medieval nobility and was often served at banquets as a subtlety. This was usually done by skinning the bird, cooking, grinding up and seasoning the flesh, and then redressing it in its own plumage and serving it in a lifelike pose by bracing it with wooden struts. It was also common to discard the meat and stuff the colorful plumage with the meat of tastier domestic fowl such as goose or chicken to please and entertain diners.

Indian Peafowl as pets

Indian Peafowl can be companion animals but there may be problems with dogs, cats and other pets. They may roam, roost or mess on adjoining property. Peafowl have been called "urban guard dogs" because their distinctive cries can act as a warning of approaching people. Several British stately homes keep peafowl in the grounds.

Peafowl used as logos

• The American television network NBC has used three variations of a rainbow peacock logo since 1956.
• The national carrier of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Airlines uses a Peacock as its company logo.

Cultural references

• According to Greek mythology, the "eyes" on the tail of a peacock were placed there by Hera to commemorate her faithful watchman, Argus who had a hundred eyes (Ovid I, 625).
• In two epic poems of Kalidasa (Meghaduta and Kumarasambhava) the beauty of the peacock has been used as an ornate literary tool.
• The Jataka tales Mahamayur Jataka (491) describing the earlier birth of Bhagavan Buddha describe it in the form of a golden peacock. There is an interesting story about the Golden peacock. Another of these tales record that intrepid Indian traders going as far as Babylon used to take peacocks with them, and had to sell them to the native population on request.
• In the local folktales of India the peacock has a special place. A Punjabi folktale tells of a Queen requesting her husband not to hunt peacocks, saying that the peacock is her brother.
• In the Mayuri subtribe of Bhils in India, women take out their veils whenever they see a peacock and they are worshipped during festivals.
• Hindu mythology describes the peacock as the carrier of Kartikeya, and the goddess Saraswati in Hinduism, and the goddess Mahamayuri in Jainism.

• The main figure of the Kurdish religion Yazidism, Melek Taus, is most commonly depicted as a peacock. Although as the birds are not native to the original range of worship of Melek Taus, it is possible Melek Taus was originally depicted as a chicken or cockerel.

In literature

In the novel Over the Wine Dark Sea by H. N. Turteltaub, the main characters transport a cargo of peafowl through the Mediterranean Sea, circa 300 BC.

Gallery

at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.
at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	Indian Blue Peacock displays on a rooftop at the Toronto Zoo	Indian Blue Peacock displaying at the Denver Zoo	Indian blue peacock displays at the San Diego Zoo
An Indian Blue Peacock's head	Shot of a white peacock	An Indian Blue Peacock courts a peahen	An Indian Blue Peahen showing her plumage
Closeup of an Indian Blue Peacock's head	When it is not in display, the long train rests on the ground and hampers the movements of the peacock	The Black-Shouldered Peacock was once thought to be a distinct subspecies, but is now considered a color mutation	A white peacock showing off its plumage
Front	Back	White peafowl in the parroquial residence in San Andrés Sajcabajá, Guatemala.	Peacock in botanical garden.
Feather of male	Feather of male	Feather of male	Feather of male

References

• Blau, S.K. (Jan. 2004). "Light as a Feather: Structural Elements Give Peacock Plumes Their Color". Physics Today 57 (1): 18–20. Retrieved on 2006-09-27.2004&rft.volume=57&rft.issue=1&rft.aulast=Blau&rft.aufirst=S.K.&rft.pages=18%26%238211%3B20&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aip.org%2Fpt%2Fvol-57%2Fiss-1%2Fp18.html"> 
• Grimmett, R.; Inskipp, C., and Inskipp, T. (1999). Birds of India: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04910-6. 
• Loyau, A.; Saint Jalme, M., and Cagniant, C. (2005-05-03). "Multiple sexual advertisements honestly reflect health status in peacocks (Pavo cristatus)". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 58 (6): 552-557. ISSN 0340-5443 (Print); ISSN 1432-0762 (Online). Retrieved on 2006-09-27. 

External links

• www.peafowl-farm.com Private peacock site
• BirdLife International (2004). Pavo cristatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 27 September 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• BirdLife Species Factsheet
• Indian peafowl videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Indian Blue Peacock

See also

• Peafowl
• Congo Peafowl
• Green Peafowl