What is Indian Peacock? Interesting Facts About It - Indian Peafowl Facts and Information PetAddict
What is Indian Peacock? It is a precious large-sized bird with beautiful plumage, considered one of the most beautiful birds in the world. Let’s find out information about this bird with Peta addict!
Origin of the Indian Peacock
The Indian Peacock or Blue Peacock (scientific name: Pavo cristatus) is a large and brilliant bird of the Pheasant family, originally from South Asia but has been introduced to many parts of the world such as the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. Linnaeus first named and described this species in 1758, and the nomenclature Pavo cristatus is used today.
Where do Indian Peacocks Live
The Indian peafowl is native to India and Sri Lanka, in South Asia. They’ve been introduced to other countries, usually as exhibits in parks, zoos, and nature centers or as domestic pets.
Shape Features of Indian Peacocks
Peacocks are large birds with a head-to-tail length of 100 to 115 centimeters (40 to 46 inches) and 195 to 225 centimeters (78 to 90 inches) at the end of the longest tail feathers. Female Peacocks are about 95 cm (38 inches) in length and 2.75–4 kg (6–8.8 lbs) in weight. 4–6 kg (8.8–13.2 lbs).
The highlight on their head is the large, pointed, brown, and very proportional beak.
The bird’s eyes are quite large, usually black or brown. There is a huge crest on the top of the head, made up of many small hairs. The bird’s legs are quite long, the toes are large, and the claws are hard and very pointed. This bird has a very long neck, enlarged pharynx, chest, broad back, and flat.
Male peacocks are predominantly blue with a propeller crest on the head, long tail feathers growing from the back, with beautiful eye-shaped spots on the upper surface.
The female peacock is smaller in size, has a crest of feathers on her head like a male, has a green neck and dark brown plumage, and does not have a long, colorful tail like the male.
Custom of Indian Peacocks
Peacocks usually live in herds with the number from a few to a few dozen. They are found mainly above ground in open forests or on farmland where they forage for food such as fruit and grains but will also hunt as snakes, lizards, and rodents. This species loves to curl up, rolling in the sand at dusk, along with that, the peacocks also have a habit of walking together to the lake to drink water. When disturbed, they often escape by running fast instead of flying high.
Growth and Reproduction Characteristics
When kept in captivity, the Indian peacock can live up to 23 years old, but in the wild, the average lifespan of this species is only 15 years.
The peacock’s tail feathers begin to grow at the age of 2, but it is not until 2 years later that they are fully developed. In addition, bird feathers can fall and fly everywhere all year round.
During the breeding season, the male peacock will attract the attention of the female by erecting colorful fan-shaped feathers and patting the female to flirt. The peacock is a “polygamy” animal. A male peacock can pair 3-5 females.
The peacocks with colorful feathers will have more mates. The estrus season of peacocks is also the time to harvest peacock feathers, otherwise, the feathers will fall out naturally and no longer guarantee quality. Indian peacocks after 2 years of age start to breed, but 3-6 years old is the best age for peacocks to reproduce.
Each spawning, the female can lay 15-25 eggs, incubation time is about 27 days.
The basic ways to hatch peacock eggs are:
Self-incubating female peacock: hatching rate is 40-50% due to the influence of environmental factors quite a lot.
Using hens (chickens, geese, geese..): hatching rate is 50-60% due to environmental factors and the number of eggs incubated is only 5.6 eggs/time.
Using an incubator: hatching rate is about 80-90% because it does not depend on environmental factors.
What Do Indian Peacocks Eat?
Peacocks are omnivores. Peacock eats seeds, insects, fruits, small mammals, and reptiles. They eat some small snakes but keep their distance from larger ones. In areas around cropland, peacocks feed on a wide range of crops such as peanuts, tomatoes, rice, peppers, and even bananas.
Around human habitation, they eat a variety of leftovers or even human excrement. In the countryside, they often eat crops and garden plants.
In livestock production, easy-to-find foods such as rice, corn, cereals, green vegetables, chicken bran, fresh bait can be used. Peacocks only consume 1/2 the amount of feed compared to chickens, so they save on breeding costs.
For peacocks in the estrus season, it is necessary to add vitamins, green vegetables, cereals… The peacock’s diet is also different from that of adult birds, when newly hatched, the chicks can be fed 100% synthetic chicken bran, after 30 days of age, change the ratio of 70% bran plus 30% rice or ground corn.
For birds from 6 to 8 months old, the rate of total bran is reduced to only 50% and food is supplemented with green vegetables and fresh bait.
The water for peacocks to drink must be clean water, for young birds, it is advisable to give boiled water to cool to protect the immature digestive system.
How much does an Indian Peacock cost?
Peacocks are not as expensive as some other pets. You can get a good, healthy one with a few hundred dollars. The average price of a grown Peacock would cost anywhere between $35 to $275. Healthy birds with straight toes and no flaws are priced higher than birds with defects.
Conclusion
Hopefully, with the above sharing, you will have more useful information about the Indian peacock. And remember to follow Petaddict.net for more animals!
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