Peacocks are fascinating creatures, and their beauty and grace leave children awestruck. So, if your child is interested in peacocks, we have brought some fun peacock facts for kids. Children seem to get excited at the sight of a peacock, and more so when they spread their feathers, displaying various colors and patterns. There are so many astonishing facts about peacocks that even adults might be unaware of. For example, did you know that a family of peacocks is called a bevy? So, our list of interesting facts about peacocks will keep children entertained and eager to learn more.
25 Fun And Interesting Peacock Facts And Information For Kids
1. What Is A Peacock?
The peacock, also widely popular as peafowl, is a medium-sized, colorful bird belonging to the pheasant family. The bird is native to Asia.
The peacock is the national bird of India.
About 3000 years ago, Phoenicians imported different species of peacocks to Egypt and used them for a variety of purposes, particularly decorations.
You can find three prominent species of a peacock, namely the Indian peacock, the African Congo peacock, and the Green peacock. All three species are native to Asia, but you can also find them in Africa and certain parts of Australia today.
Peacock is the male bird, while Peahen is the female and together they are known as peafowl. The offsprings are called peachicks.
2. Habitat And Distribution Of Peacocks:
Peacock birds are ground-dwelling and they prefer to reside in farmlands, forests, and warm regions. They like to live in areas that provide them easy access to plants and low trees as it makes their feeding easy. They could be found in rainforests and bushlands.
Prominently, you can find peacocks in India, Sri Lanka, and Burma.
Peacocks are found in captivity in England and Japan. This is so that their population can be increased there.
3. What Do Peacocks Eat?
Peacocks are omnivorous birds, and they mainly eat plants, fruits, seeds, flower petals, ants, ticks, insects, locust, ants, bread, and other scraps in the gardens and forests. Grains are the most common food of peacocks. However, peafowls feed almost on any edible item, no matter whether it’s an animal or plant source.
Peacocks also eat small reptiles, such as young cobra snakes, amphibians, butterflies, chicken, flies, and mice vole (1).
4. Anatomy Of Peacocks:
Peacocks possess unique anatomy which makes them beautiful birds. Here, we list some prominent physical parts of the bird. Weight And Length: Male peacock weighs around four to six kilograms, while females weigh about 2.75 to four kilograms. The length of peacocks is about six to seven feet, while the Peahens are about three to 3.5 feet long. Head: Crested feathers similar to brush, decorate the head of the peacock creating its beautiful crown-like appearance. Peacock’s head, neck, and breast feature enticing blue appearance. Eyes: There are white blotches above and below the eyes of a peacock. Bill: Usually, the beak of a peacock is an inch in length. Body: A peacock’s body is full of magnificent brown feathers in the front as well as back. Male peacock exhibits impressive greenish feathers that comprise beautiful, elongated tail trains. Peahens are less impressive than peacocks, and they feature whitish faces, brown crown, along with metallic upper breast. Peahens lack magnificent sweeping train, unlike the males. However, both males and females possess adorable green plumage which has tan mottlings right from their crests to tails. Tail: The tail of a peacock makes 60% of the entire length of the bird. Colorful, beautiful tails are characteristic of male peacocks. The color of the peacock’s tail varies every time you look them from a different angle. The feathers on the tail possess eye-like beautiful spots with red, golden, and green feathers surrounding the eyespots. A peacock can flaunt up to 200 feathers on its tail at a time, and the bird sheds its feathers every summer.
5. What Is The Actual Color Of Peacock And Its Feathers?
Even though peacock appears bright in color, it’s not as bright as it looks. In fact, peacocks are brown in color, and their color often changes due to the reflection of light, which is the secret of their exquisitely colorful feathers (2). Every section of a peacock’s feather changes its color when the light strikes from different angles.
6. Can Peacocks Fly?
Yes, they can fly to limited distances as they are fleshy birds. They can cover short stretches by flying just like large birds fly. However, they prefer to stay on the ground for most of the time. Primarily, peacocks fly to escape from predators or for their night roost. The flying style of the bird is peculiar. It feels as if the peacock is jumping, and its wings are offering it a boost to fly (3).
7. What Makes The Feathers Of Peacock So Unique And Beautiful?
The feathers of peacock possess microscopic ‘crystal-like structures’, which tend to reflect various wavelengths of lights based on their spacing. The tiny crystal-resembling structures are the ones that create the fluorescent colors.
8. Snake Chasers:
Peacocks are the best fighter when it comes to fighting with snakes. They can not only prey on young snakes, including the poisonous ones, but they also do not let snakes enter their territory.
9. Behavior Of Peacocks:
Peacocks are social birds, and they like to interact with humans by exhibiting magnanimity or attachment towards them. However, these birds are quite aggressive and do not approve the entry of stranger or even new peafowl in their territory.
Peachicks cross areas only along with their parents as other peacocks could threaten their lives.
You can also find wild peacocks playing games. Peachicks tend to chase one another around a bush by bending their heads down and holding their necks parallel to the earth. Outstanding fact is that while playing peacocks always follow one direction, i.e., clockwise. Once tired, they stop suddenly and walk at a normal pace. They love to play under the sunlight.
Usually, these birds travel in groups of eight to ten.
Peacocks feature a strange behavior; they create their nests on the ground and perch on the treetops.
10. How Does A Peacock Sound?
Peacock’s call is not a pleasant experience. Peacocks are one of the loudest creatures and make screeching sounds.
Usually, the frequency of their calls increases during the monsoon. During the rainy season, these birds make a meowing sound indicating that it’s going to rain.
A peafowl can make 11 different calls. They love to call out in the early mornings and late evenings as a means of interacting with one another.
Some studies reveal that peacock sings during the mating season to impress and attract the peahens.
In the wild, peacock calls could be an alarm of danger.
11. How Do Peacocks Reproduce?
Male peacocks display their flashy trains and beautiful blue-green plumage to attract the peahens. They perform a peculiar dance to fascinate the females. You can find them prancing around the peahens to attract them. Once mating is done, the female bird gathers various materials to create a nest. Males look for other peahens to mate. Most peacocks nest on the ground while some of them roost in trees. Peahens lay around three to six eggs usually between January and March. The females incubate the laid eggs, which hatch in about 28 days. Peahens stay close to their offspring and are excellent mothers. The mother bird feeds the peachicks from her bill, and the peachicks respond instinctively.
12. Are Peacocks Polygamous In Nature?
Yes, peacocks are polygamous, which means that a peacock mates with more than one female. A harem of the peahens comprises two to three of them.
31. How Are Peachicks?
Peachicks weigh about 103 grams at the time of birth, and it’s hard to determine their gender. Peachicks grow up quickly and can walk around independently. After a few months, the chicks learn to fly. The male’s train of beautiful feather develops only after three years.
14. Do Peacocks Run?
Yes, peacocks are fast runners. They can move at an excellent speed of about 16 kilometers per hour. Also, they fly pretty fast at a speed of 10 mph.
15. What Is The Cultural Importance Of Peacocks?
Not only are peacocks the national bird of India, but they also stand for compassion, benevolence, knowledge, and kindness in Hinduism.
Hindus consider peafowl sacred, and the spots on its tail tend to symbolize the eyes of Gods.
Lots of people co-relate peacocks with Goddess Saraswati.
Lord Karthikeya, who the Hindu God of War, also rides on a peacock.
In the Greek and Roman mythologies, Goddess Hera is associated with peacocks (4).
For the Babylonians, peacocks are a symbol of guardians.
The bird represents everlasting life in Christianity.
16. You Don’t Have To Kill Peacocks For Its Feathers?
Yes, you do not have to kill the beautiful bird for its exquisite feathers since peacocks shed their adorable train every year soon after the breeding season ends. You can quickly gather the feathers without causing any harm to the bird.
17. Are Peacocks Domesticated Birds?
Yes, peacocks are domesticated throughout the world. Moderate weather conditions are most favorable conditions for domestication of peacocks. You can keep these birds in open areas since they love to move in vast territories. Domesticating peacocks in a condensed area can intimidate them.
18. How To Prevent Peacocks From Being Noisy?
Peacocks turn most noisy when they feel threatened or during the mating season. Peacock calls are tolerable in the mornings but could be disturbing at night.
19. Can Peacocks Make Fake Calls?
Yes, peacocks are clever birds, and they can easily make false calls. Usually, a peacock makes a loud copulatory call when he mates with a peahen. However, peacocks can fake this sound to attract a greater number of peahens by pretending to be mating. In fact, one-third of the bird’s calls that you hear tend to be fake (5).
20. What Is The Secret Of All-White Peafowls?
Selective breeding, which is common in domesticated peafowls, brings the polychromatic trend for plain white feathers. It is one of the most popular colored mutations, i.e., the variation without any color which makes the female peacock have white feathers. The entire peafowl is pure white due to its inability to create any color pigment which is well-known as leucism. You may also misunderstand white peafowl as an albino. However, the bird retains standard eye color along with leucism.
21. Who Are Peacocks’ Predators?
Peacocks suffer from the threat of a few predators such as dogs, tigers, cats, raccoons, and some medium-sized mammals.
22. Can Peacocks Swim?
No, peacocks cannot swim. They don’t have webbed feet, which are quintessential for birds to swim actively and their feathers provide no help in swimming.
23. Indian Peacocks Are The Only Species That Display Plumage:
Of all the species of peacocks, the Indian peacock is the only species that carry and show splendid plumage. The other two species are quite short and possess only a few sets of feathers.
24. What Is The Conservation Status Of Peacocks?
Even though the number of peacocks is reducing, particularly due to hunting and loss of habitat, the Indian peacock is not an endangered bird. Congo peafowl is now present in the vulnerable list of species, and the Green Peafowl is an endangered species.
25. What Is The Lifespan Of Peacocks?
An average lifespan of peacocks is 15 to 20 years in the wild. However, peacocks can live up to 40 years in captivity.
