Peacock - varieties, brief description, features, life cycles + 106 photos

Phylogenetic origin

Originally monotypic genus Afropavo

considered related to the Asian peacock genus
Pavo
.
However, Afropavo
will show significant differences from
Pavo
in morphology (relatively weak sexual dimorphism, lack of a distinctive plume or specialized ocelli-containing feathers in the male) and reproductive behavior.

Distribution of Afropavo

at a considerable distance from
Pavo
and other pheasants living in Southeast Asia, also represents a biogeographical mystery[3].

Sequencing of sections of mitochondrial DNA Afropavo

and their comparison with similar sequences from
Pavo
and other Galliformes convincingly showed the close relationship of the African and Asian peafowl and the estimated time of divergence of the two genera in the late Miocene [3].

Diet and behavior

As representatives of the Pavo

, Congo peacocks are omnivores with a diet consisting primarily of fruits and insects.
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, its diet was found to include fruits from Allanblackia floribunda
, junglefly,
Canarium schweinfurthii
, palm oil,
Klainedoxa gabonensis
, African breadfruit, and
Xylopia aethiopica
, as well as a variety of insects, spiders, molluscs, and worms.[6]

In Salonga National Park, its diet in the secondary forest is taxonomically narrower than in the primary forest. The male has the same appearance as other peacock species, although the Congo peacock actually flaps its tail feathers while other peacocks flutter their upper tail. hidden feathers. The Congo peacock is monogamous, although detailed information about mating in the wild is still needed. The peacock species has a high " go

"a screaming noise, while the groin makes a low "
Gowah
."
They do loud duets consisting of " rro-ho-ho-o-a
" from both sexes.

Appearance

The length of the male is 64-70 cm, female - 60-63 cm.

The male’s head is naked, blue-gray, the throat is orange-red, the rest of the neck is covered with short velvety black feathers; on the head there is a crest in the form of a bunch of erect feathers. The upper part of the body is bronze-green with large purple borders, and on the rump there are bright oval spots, like those of Asian peacocks.

The tail is black with greenish-blue edges at the ends of the feathers, the underside is dark green, and the undertail is black. The beak is bluish-gray. The long legs have one spur, which the female also has in a shortened form.

The female also has a crest of chestnut-brown feathers on her head, the bare parts of her head are gray-brown, and her neck is red. The upperparts are green with light brown stripes and a metallic sheen.

• Afropavo congensis.png

  The male African peacock has a beautiful red-blue-green plumage color.

• Congo Peafowl, female.jpg

  Female at the Milwaukee County Zoo (Wisconsin, USA)

Royal

The same white peacock, but slightly larger than its relative and with a more magnificent tail. Due to the unique color of its feathers, it is a popular inhabitant of royal gardens and private estates. Looks great when it spreads its tail and during flight.

The body dimensions, wingspan and size of tail feathers are almost identical to the white peacock. It lends itself well to breeding, but requires a special approach to feeding. Any type of peacock is unique and beautiful in its own way. According to the majority, this bird is considered the most beautiful and enjoys the well-deserved love of others. Due to the color of their long feathers, peacocks often become victims of poachers, which is why the birds have recently begun to be bred in nurseries

Genetics

Karyotype

: 76 chromosomes (2n
)
[6].

Comparison of A. congensis

,
P. cristatus
and some other galliformes revealed the maximum morphological similarity between the chromosomes of the African and common peacocks.
Molecular genetics

• EntrezNucleotide
  database , GenBank, NCBI, USA: [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term=txid9076%5BOrganism%3Aexp%5D 2016] (accessed February 18, 2015).
• EntrezProtein
  database , GenBank, NCBI, USA: [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein/?term=txid9076%5BOrganism%3Aexp%5D 12] (accessed February 18, 2015).

Distribution and habitat

The Congolese peacock inhabits and is endemic to the lowland forests of Central Congolia from the Democratic Republic of the Congo where it has also been designated the national bird. Found in both primary and secondary forest in Salonga National Park. Secondary signs of its presence, such as droppings and feathers, were more common in regenerating secondary forest than in primary forest. In secondary forests, its droppings were found near watercourses where trees were smaller and plant diversity lower than in primary forest.[3]

In the 1990s, it was recorded in Maiko National Park, primarily on low hills and ridges between watersheds.[7]

Notes

1. Boehme R. L., Flint V. E.
   Five-language dictionary of animal names. Birds. Latin, Russian, English, German, French / Under the general editorship of academician. V. E. Sokolova. - M.: Rus. lang., "RUSSO", 1994. - P. 56. - 2030 copies. — ISBN 5-200-00643-0.
2. See [www.zoonomen.net/bio/bioc.html#Chapin for a brief biographical note] in the database [www.zoonomen.net/ "Zoonomen - Zoological Nomenclature Resource"]. (English)
3. ↑ 1 2
   Kimball
   et al.
   (1997).
4. Akimushkin (1964).
5. Akimushkin (1971); Rakhmanov, Bessarabov (1991).
6. de Boer, van Bocxtaele (1981).

Reproduction

These birds reach sexual maturity at 2–3 years. It is by this time that males develop a chic tail to attract the opposite sex.

They prefer to breed from April to September. To attract a female into a pair, the male spreads his luxurious tail and shakes it slightly, demonstrating the brightness of his plumage. As soon as the female's interest is achieved, the male immediately turns away, hiding the beauty of his feathers.

In this position, he waits for a positive response from the female, and after that the couple proceeds to mating. Peacocks are most often polygamous - they live with 3-5 females.

Important! In captivity, a peacock can become monogamous and impregnate only one female.

Literature

• Akimushkin I. I.
  [lib.aldebaran.ru/author/akimushkin_igor/akimushkin_igor_sledy_nevidannyh_zverei/akimushkin_igor_sledy_nevidannyh_zverei__11.html Traces of unseen animals.] - M.: Mysl, 1964. - 262 p.
• Akimushkin I. I.
  [bird.geoman.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000000/st011.shtml Animal World (Stories about Birds)] / Eureka Series; Artists A. Bloch, B. Zhutovsky. - M.: Young Guard, 1971. - 384 p.
• Rakhmanov A. I., Bessarabov B. F.
  [www.zooclub.ru/birds/vidy/150.shtml Pheasants: maintenance and breeding.] - M.: Agrapromizdat, 1991. - 173 p.
• de Boer LEM, van Bocxtaele R.
  [elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v083n03/p0204-p0208.pdf Somatic chromosomes of the Congo Peafowl (
  Afropavo congensis
  ) and their bearing on the species' affinities] / /Condor. - 1981. - Vol. 83. - No. 3. - P. 204-208. (English)
• Kimball RT, Braun EL, Ligon JD
  [www.zoo.ufl.edu/rkimball/Kimballetal.1997.PRSL.PDF Resolution of the phylogenetic position of the Congo peafowl,
  Afropavo congensis
  : a biogeographic and evolutionary enigma] // Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. - 1997. - Vol. 264. - No. 1387. - P. 1517-1523. (English)

Types of breeds

The image of a peacock is familiar to almost every person from childhood. These birds tend to be sedentary and although they fly quite well, they still prefer to spend a significant part of their time on the ground. These birds feed on mixed food, not disdaining mollusks, lizards and small snakes. Before the mating season begins, males grow long tails. The male uses his tail for several purposes:

• to attract the attention of females;
• for the purpose of scaring away small predators;
• This is how he shows superiority over his competitors.

However, after the mating season, males often molt and are indistinguishable from females. It is worth noting that Asian peacock species are polygamous.

Individuals prefer to nest in the thicket of the forest, and lay no more than 10 eggs. They hatch them for about a month, and the chicks themselves, within a few hours after hatching, can follow their parents in search of food.

They also make nests in other conditions: on stumps, spreading trees, and even between rocks. The number of eggs in a clutch is no more than 4, but more often 1-2 pieces. The female incubates the eggs for 27 to 29 days and during this entire time the male remains nearby, guarding the female and the clutch. He leaves only to get food.

Links

• [bvi.rusf.ru/sista/s45104.htm#t Taxonomy of the African peacock] in [bvi.rusf.ru/sista.htm BVI Archive: Systematics]
• [www.zoonomen.net/avtax/gall.html Order Galliformes], including the African peacock, in the database [www.zoonomen.net/ "Zoonomen - Zoological Nomenclature Resource"] (English)
• [www.gbwf.org/pheasants/congo.html African peacock] at [www.gbwf.org/ gbwf.org, “Aviculture & Conservation of Galliformes (Game Birds)”] (English)
• [www.peafowl-farm.com/english/my_peafowls.htm African peacock] on the website of the peacock farm [www.peafowl-farm.com Peafowl-Farm], owners - Reinhold und Beate Bauer, Albbruck Buch (Germany) (German .) (English)
• [diglib1.amnh.org/articles/chapin_bio/chapin_bio1.html Biography of James Chapin], discoverer of the African peacock, on the website [www.amnh.org/ American Museum of Natural History (New York, USA)] (English)
• Peacocks // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. — 3rd ed. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.

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An excerpt characterizing the Congolese peacock

Two months passed after receiving news in Bald Mountains about the Battle of Austerlitz and the death of Prince Andrei, and despite all the letters through the embassy and all the searches, his body was not found, and he was not among the prisoners. The worst thing for his relatives was that there was still hope that he had been raised by the inhabitants on the battlefield, and perhaps was lying recovering or dying somewhere alone, among strangers, and unable to give news of himself. In the newspapers, from which the old prince first learned about the defeat of Austerlitz, it was written, as always, very briefly and vaguely, that the Russians, after brilliant battles, had to retreat and carried out the retreat in perfect order. The old prince understood from this official news that ours were defeated. A week after the newspaper brought news of the Battle of Austerlitz, a letter arrived from Kutuzov, who informed the prince of the fate that befell his son. “Your son, in my eyes,” wrote Kutuzov, with a banner in his hands, in front of the regiment, fell as a hero worthy of his father and his fatherland. To my general regret and that of the entire army, it is still unknown whether he is alive or not. I flatter myself and you with hope that your son is alive, for otherwise he would have been named among the officers found on the battlefield, about whom the list was given to me through the envoys.” Having received this news late in the evening, when he was alone. in his office, the old prince, as usual, went for his morning walk the next day; but he was silent with the clerk, the gardener and the architect, and, although he looked angry, he did not say anything to anyone. When, at ordinary times, Princess Marya came to him, he stood at the machine and sharpened, but, as usual, did not look back at her. - A! Princess Marya! - he suddenly said unnaturally and threw the chisel. (The wheel was still spinning from its swing. Princess Marya remembered for a long time this fading creaking of the wheel, which for her merged with what followed.) Princess Marya moved towards him, saw his face, and something suddenly sank within her. Her eyes stopped seeing clearly. She saw from her father’s face, not sad, not murdered, but angry and unnaturally working on himself, that a terrible misfortune hung over her and would crush her, the worst in her life, a misfortune she had not yet experienced, an irreparable, incomprehensible misfortune. , the death of someone you love. - Mon pere! Andre? [Father! Andrei?] - Said the ungraceful, awkward princess with such an inexpressible charm of sadness and self-forgetfulness that her father could not stand her gaze and turned away, sobbing. - Got the news. None among the prisoners, none among the killed. Kutuzov writes,” he shouted shrilly, as if wanting to drive the princess away with this cry, “he has been killed!” The princess did not fall, she did not feel faint. She was already pale, but when she heard these words, her face changed, and something shone in her radiant, beautiful eyes. It was as if joy, the highest joy, independent of the sorrows and joys of this world, spread beyond the intense sadness that was in her. She forgot all her fear of her father, walked up to him, took his hand, pulled him towards her and hugged his dry, sinewy neck. “Mon pere,” she said. “Don’t turn away from me, we’ll cry together.” - Scoundrels, scoundrels! – the old man shouted, moving his face away from her. - Destroy the army, destroy the people! For what? Go, go, tell Lisa. “The princess sank helplessly into a chair next to her father and began to cry. She now saw her brother at that moment as he said goodbye to her and Lisa, with his gentle and at the same time arrogant look. She saw him at that moment, how he tenderly and mockingly put the icon on himself. “Did he believe? Did he repent of his unbelief? Is he there now? Is it there, in the abode of eternal peace and bliss?” she thought. - Mon pere, [Father,] tell me how it was? – she asked through tears. - Go, go, killed in a battle in which they ordered the best Russian people and Russian glory to be killed. Go, Princess Marya. Go and tell Lisa. I will come. When Princess Marya returned from her father, the little princess was sitting at work, and with that special expression of an inner and happily calm look, characteristic only of pregnant women, she looked at Princess Marya. It was clear that her eyes did not see Princess Marya, but looked deep into herself - into something happy and mysterious happening within her. “Marie,” she said, moving away from the hoop and waddling back, “give me your hand here.” “She took the princess’s hand and placed it on her stomach. Her eyes smiled expectantly, her sponge with mustache rose, and childishly happily remained raised. Princess Marya knelt in front of her and hid her face in the folds of her daughter-in-law's dress. - Here, here - do you hear? It's so strange to me. And you know, Marie, I will love him very much,” said Lisa, looking at her sister-in-law with sparkling, happy eyes. Princess Marya could not raise her head: she was crying. - What's wrong with you, Masha? “Nothing... I felt so sad... sad about Andrei,” she said, wiping her tears on her daughter-in-law’s knees. Several times throughout the morning, Princess Marya began to prepare her daughter-in-law, and each time she began to cry. These tears, the reason for which the little princess did not understand, alarmed her, no matter how little observant she was. She didn’t say anything, but looked around restlessly, looking for something. Before dinner, the old prince, whom she had always been afraid of, entered her room, now with a particularly restless, angry face, and without saying a word, he left. She looked at Princess Marya, then thought with that expression in her eyes of attention directed inward that pregnant women have, and suddenly began to cry. – Did you receive anything from Andrey? - she said. - No, you know that the news could not come yet, but mon pere is worried, and I’m scared. - Oh nothing? “Nothing,” said Princess Marya, looking firmly at her daughter-in-law with radiant eyes. She decided not to tell her and persuaded her father to hide the receipt of terrible news from her daughter-in-law until her permission, which was supposed to be the other day. Princess Marya and the old prince, each in their own way, wore and hid their grief. The old prince did not want to hope: he decided that Prince Andrei had been killed, and despite the fact that he sent an official to Austria to look for his son’s trace, he ordered a monument to him in Moscow, which he intended to erect in his garden, and told everyone that his son was killed. He tried to lead his previous lifestyle without changing, but his strength failed him: he walked less, ate less, slept less, and became weaker every day. Princess Marya hoped. She prayed for her brother as if he were alive and waited every minute for news of his return.

Where are birds most often found?

The most common habitats are countries such as: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka. They are comfortable in areas located at least 2 km above sea level.

Jungles, forests, bushes, river banks are the places where this amazingly beautiful bird lives best.

The main thing is that there are no dense thickets. But they don’t know how to live in open areas.