The male Indian Peafowl, commonly known as
the peacock, is one of the most recognizable birds in the world. These large,
brightly colored birds have a distinctive crest and an unmistakable ornamental
train.
The train (1.4-1.6 meters in length) accounts for more than 60% of their total
body length (2.3 meters). Combined with a large wingspan (1.4-1.6 meters), this
train makes the male peafowl one of the largest flying birds in the world. The
train is formed by 100-150 highly specialized uppertail-coverts.
Each of these feathers sports an ornamental ocellus, or eye-spot, and has long
disintegrated barbs, giving the feathers a loose, fluffy appearance. When displaying
to a female, the peacock erects this train into a spectacular fan, displaying
the ocelli to their best advantage.
The peacock is widely found in the Indian sub-continent from the south and east
of the Indus river, Jammu and Kashmir, east Assam, south Mizoram and the whole
of the Indian peninsula. The peacock enjoys immense protection. It is fully
protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection) Act, 1972.
The Indian Peafowl occurs from eastern Pakistan through India, south from the
Himalayas to Sri Lanka. Though once common in Bangladesh, it may now be extinct
in that country.
The more subtly colored female Peafowl is mostly brown above with a white belly.
Her ornamentation is limited to a prominent crest and green neck feathers. Though
females (2.75-4.0 kg) weigh nearly as much as the males (4.0-6.0 kg), they rarely
exceed 1.0 meter in total body length.
The Indian peacock,Pavo cristatus (Linnaeus), the national bird of India, is
a colourful, swan-sized bird, with a fan-shaped crest of feathers, a white patch
under the eye and a long, slender neck.
Its highly ornamental appearance motivated early seafarers to transplant the
peafowl to their homelands in other parts of the western world. Phoenician traders
in the time of King Solomon (1000 B.C.) introduced the birds to present-day
Syria and the Egyptian Pharaohs.
In its native India, the peafowl is a creature of the open forests and riparian
undergrowth. In southern India, it also prefers stream-side forests but may
also be found in orchards and other cultivated areas.
Indian Peafowl do most of their foraging in the early morning and shortly before
sunset. They retreat to the shade and security of the forest for the hottest
portion of the day. Foods include grains, insects, small reptiles, small mammals,
berries, drupes, wild figs, and some cultivated crops.