Description
The crowned peacock is native to India and Sri Lanka, where it most often lives in deciduous forests, shrubs and grasslands. Peacocks are also commonly kept in castle parks and zoos, and the peacock is the national bird of India. The male has a blue head, neck and belly, greenish-brown back feathers, and brown wings with black stripes. Its impressive “tail” actually consists of greatly elongated upper tail coverts forming a train, with a peacock eye at the end of each feather. Males can measure more than two metres including the train, while both males and females have a several-centimetre crest. Females can spread their tail coverts when threatened, although these are much smaller than those of the male. They lay four to eight light-brown eggs, and the chicks hatch after 28 days. The female cares for the chicks alone, and peafowl can live for up to fifteen years.