Peafowl

An Indian Peacock displaying.

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Genus:	*Pavo, Afropavo*

Species

Pavo cristatus
Pavo muticus
Afropavo congolensis

The peafowl are the three species of bird in the genera Pavo and Afropavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are most notable for the male's extravagant tail, a result of sexual selection, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen.

The species are:

Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus
Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus
Congo Peafowl, Afropavo congolensis

Table of contents

1 Plumage
2 Courtship
3 Range
4 Reference

Plumage

The male (peacock) has beautiful iridescent blue-green or green coloured plumage. His tail feathers have a series of eyes that are best seen when the tail is fanned. Both species have a head crest.

The female (peahen) has a mixture of dull green, brown and grey in her plumage. She lacks the long tail of the male, but has a crest.

Many of the brilliant colors of the peacock plumage are due to an optical interference phenomenon (Bragg reflection) based on (nearly) periodic nanostructures found in the barbules (fiber-like components) of the feathers.

Different colors correspond to different length scales of the periodic structures. For brown feathers, a mixture of red and blue is required—one color is created by the periodic structure, while the other is a created by a Fabry-Perot interference peak from reflections off the outermost and innermost boundaries of the periodic structure.

Such interference-based structural color is especially important in producing the peacock's iridescent hues (which shimmer and change with viewing angle), since interference effects depend upon the angle of light, unlike chemical pigments.

In captivity, the peafowl has produced many plumage color variations. Those are mutations that have been secured by selective breeding. They included: white bodied, barred winged, white eyed, pied, cameo, charcoal, bronze, opal, peach, midnight, purple, and any combination of these variations.

Courtship

The peacock's courtship rituals include the display of its startling plumage and a loud call, as heard in (491KB in MPEG-4 format).

Range

The Indian Peafowl is native to India and Sri Lanka. The Green Peafowl breeds from Myanmar east to Java. The IUCN lists the Green Peafowl as vulnerable to extinction due to hunting and a reduction in extent and quality of habitat. The two Pavo species will hybridize.

Reference

Steven K. Blau (Jan. 2004), “Light as a Feather: Structural Elements Give Peacock Plumes Their Color”, Physics Today 57 (1), 18–20.
World Birds Taxonomic List
as of 2003-02-21

There is also a Peacock butterfly.

NBC uses an abstraction of a peacock as its logo.