This spring has been particularly eventful for our Indian peafowl group as a total of 4 chicks hatched on May 7 after 28 days of incubation. Yet to be sexed, the little ones are being reared by their caring mother behind the scenes but hopefully, given how they are thriving, you will get to meet them by the end of summer.
A member of the family Phasianidae, the Indian peafowl, also known as common or blue peafowl (Pavo cristatus), is native to forests on the Indian subcontinent and Srí Lanka. It is best known for the males’ large and flamboyant train of some 200 upper-tail covert feathers, which they start brandishing around the age of 2 or 3 in order to impress the much humbler looking brown-and-white females. Thanks to their great overall beauty and, especially, the colorful eyespots on their train feathers, peafowl are sacred animals in the Hindu tradition and have been a national symbol of India for almost 50 years. It was introduced in Europe by Alexander the Great and is now a widespread ornamental and domestic bird all around the world.
Although protected by both law and cultural tradition in their natural range with fairly large remaining populations, Indian peafowl face poaching for meat as an ongoing issue, hence their inclusion in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Besides blue peafowl, we are also home to white peafowl, a naturally occurring color mutation of the same species.
Like a number of other residents, our peafowl chicks are yet to be adopted. If you want to make them really happy while also offering us tremendous help, please consider becoming a zoo foster parent. Further info at:
www.zoodebrecen.hu/support
Debrecen Zoo and Amusement Park
