(Pavo cristatus)

IUCN status : Least Concern

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Indian peafowls are the most vibrant pheasants found in the subcontinent. The males are called Peacocks and the females are called Peahens. The peacock tail, known as a “train”, consists not of tail quill feathers, but highly elongated upper tail coverts. The tail is marked with eyespots, best seen when a peacock fans it. The Indian peahen has a mixture of dull grey, brown, and green in her plumage. The male needs his bright feathers to attract a mate, and the female needs to be dull so as to blend in with the bushes so that predators cannot see her while she is incubating her eggs. Peafowls are omnivores and eat mostly plant parts, flower petals, seeds, insects and other arthropods, reptiles and amphibians.