Peacocks: Nature's Royalty

Written by: Keya Gambhir

Have you ever looked at a peacock and wondered why its feathers are so decorated, or why they dance in the rain? So have we! Let’s dig deeper and discover what makes a peacock so unique!

Let’s begin by understanding the basics of peacocks. Did you know that all peacocks are boys? The female version of the peacock is known as the peahen. Together, they are a part of the species called peafowl. In addition, there are two different types of peacocks. There are blue peacocks that are usually found in India and Sri Lanka, and green peacocks that are found in places like Myanmar and Java. They both have large green trains of feathers that are dotted with bronze and blue eyespots (take a look at the picture on the left). A peacock’s tail makes up about 60% of its body and consists of between 150 and 200 feathers. 

These feathers are known for their beauty and colorfulness. The special structure of a peacock’s feather creates a mirror-like effect where different colors of light are reflected depending on which angle you look at it from. Additionally, Charles Darwin found that this beautiful tail helps peacocks attract their mates. It signals to peahens that their potential mates are healthy, and are generally attractive to them. This also helps create a visually pleasing illusion that is admired by you and me, as well as the peahen.

Peahens are green and brown and are almost as big as peacocks, but are a little smaller because they don’t have a train of feathers. During breeding season, two to five peahens are grouped in a harem with a peacock and each of them lays four to eight eggs. The peahens incubate the eggs, and they usually hatch about four weeks later. Once the eggs hatch, the baby peafowls are born with all their feathers and can fly by the time they are a week old. 

To create their harems, peacocks have to attract peahens. They do this by performing their iconic dances for them. Some people in South Asia came to believe that peacocks dancing means that it’s about to rain. While it would be great to believe, peacocks actually dance to attract their mates. They just happen to dance in the rain because breeding season occurs during the monsoon season (May to June), a time when there is a LOT of rain. (Scroll to the bottom of this page to find a video of a peacock dancing!)

Once mating season is over, peacocks shed their tail feathers. They trade in their eye-spot feathers for green feathers with no train. Don’t feel too sad, because they regrow their trains before mating season, and start the process again!

I hope you enjoyed learning about peacocks, I know we sure did! Feel free to reach out to us using the contact forms to let us know what you learned and request any topics you would love to learn about! Thanks for reading!