What are the appearance and life characteristics of the peacock? Why does the peacock spread its tail?

The blue-green peacock is the most common type of peacock we see in our lives. It has an emerald green head, a blue-green pointed crest, and a particularly long tail covert, forming a bright and beautiful tail. What are its appearance and living characteristics? Why does the peacock spread its tail? Let's decipher and answer them one by one.

Contents of this article

1. The appearance and life characteristics of peacocks

2. Why do peacocks spread their tails?

3. How long does a peacock usually live?

The appearance and life characteristics of peacock

Appearance: The top of the head is emerald green, the crest is blue-green and pointed, the upper tail coverts are particularly long, forming a tail screen, bright and beautiful, the real tail feathers are black-brown, the female bird has no tail screen, the feathers are dark brown with many spots. Peacocks forage frequently in the early morning and near dusk. They are omnivorous, mainly plant-based feed, and also eat locusts and other animals.

The peacock's body is more than 2 meters long, of which the peacock's tail screen is about 1.5 meters long. The tail screen is mainly composed of the coverts above the tail.

The blue peacock is found in India and Sri Lanka, the green peacock is found in Southeast Asia, and the Congo peacock is found in tropical Africa.

Peacocks mainly eat plants and crops such as Sichuan pears, yellow pear fruits, buds, rice, and they also eat animal foods such as grasshoppers, crickets, and frogs.

Why does the peacock spread its tail?

1. Courtship: Spring is the season for peacocks to lay eggs and reproduce. Therefore, the male peacock will spread out its colorful and bright tail screen and perform various graceful dance moves to show off its beauty to the female peacock in order to attract her. After it succeeds in courtship, it will lay eggs and raise chicks with the female peacock.

2. Defense: On the peacock's large tail screen, we can see five-color golden and emerald lines, among which are many nearly circular "eye spots". These spots are composed of purple, blue, brown, yellow, red and other colors from the inside to the outside. Once the peacock encounters an enemy and has no time to escape, it will suddenly spread its tail screen and shake it to make a "rustling" sound, and many eye spots will move around. The enemy will be afraid of this "many-eyed monster" and will not rush forward.

3. Frightened: We often see peacocks spreading their feathers in the zoo. Zoologists believe that the bright red and green colors and the loud laughter of tourists can stimulate peacocks and make them alert. At this time, the peacock spreads its feathers as a demonstration and defensive action. Anyone who pays attention to various natural phenomena will notice that when predators such as eagles and weasels attack hens with chicks, the hens will also erect their feathers to fight against the enemies. This action is just a defensive reaction of theirs. The same is true for the peacock spreading its feathers when it is frightened.

How long is the average lifespan of a peacock?

The life span of blue peacocks is about 20 to 25 years. Peacocks mainly live in tropical and subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests and mixed forests below 2,000 meters above sea level. They especially like sparse forest grasslands, river banks or jungles on the edge of the land, and open areas of sparse grasslands in the forests and open areas with shrubs and bamboo groves in the forests from plains to high mountains. They like to live near streams. The breeding season of blue peacocks is from March to June, and the breeding season of green peacocks is from June to December. They nest in pits on the ground in the bushes. At this time, the feathers of male birds are particularly beautiful.