Pavo (bird)

genus of birds

The Asiatic peafowl is a kind of bird. They are the genus Pavo from the Phasianidae family. They originate from Southeast Asia.

Pavo
Temporal range: Late Miocene to present
Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus) displaying
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Subfamily: Phasianinae
Genus: Pavo
Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Green peacock

The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen.

The males are very colorful, and they have very long train feathers (or tail feathers), which they can move up like a fan. Females are less colorful, and do not have the long train-feathers. Both the male and the female have a little "crown" of feathers on their head. Males show their train feathers to court a female peafowl, or to scare other animals away by making them afraid.

Peafowl are omnivorous and eat plant parts, flower petals, seeds, insects, and small vertebrates, like reptiles and amphibians.

Peacock in the Woods - 1907, painting by Abbott Handerson Thayer. Thayer suggested that the function of the ornate tail was camouflage