Peacock actually refers to the male peafowl. A female peafowl is called a peahen. Babies are called peachicks. Females are the same size as males but do not have the large fancy plumage.
The male uses his colorful display to attract females. Females do not have such fancy plumage as they need to blend in to avoid predators and protect her eggs.
The long feathers of the male are called a train. It isn’t actually their tail, but they are the feathers that cover the base of the tail, called coverts. The round spots that look like eyes are called ocelli. A male grows his first train around 2 years old, but it is smaller than more mature males. They get their biggest trains starting around 5-6 years old.
When a peacock props up his train and fans it out, it can be 6-7 feet wide. His train can be 60% of his total body length. Amazingly, they can still fly with this huge train!
There are 3 species of peafowl. They are Indian peafowl, green peafowl, and Congo peafowl. They belong to the pheasant family. The most recognized is the Indian peacock which is native to India and Sri Lanka.
The Indian peacock is normally blue and green, but there are many color and pattern morphs that have been bred. One of them is the leucistic Indian peacock which is completely white.
Peafowl are omnivores. They eat plants, flower petals, seeds, fruit, berries, grains, insects, small snakes, and amphibians. They can live to be 20 years old.
A family of peafowl is called a bevy. A group of peafowl can be called a party, ostentation, or a muster.
Check out this video of a peacock displaying its plumage.
