Peacock

THE BIRD

The peacock is actually the male peafowl; the female is known as a peahen, and the immature offspring are sometimes called peachicks.

The collective noun for a group pf peacocks is an ostentation.

A peacock's tail feathers can reach up to six feet long and make up around 60% of its body length.

When peacocks shake their trains while displaying their tail feathers, the movement produces infrasound that mesmerizes peahens. Humans can't hear the low pitched sound despite the noise being about as loud as a car going past a few metres away.

Peahens choose the male with the biggest and most spectacular feathers. He usually has a harem of several hens.

The phrase to be stuck up, meaning to stay aloof from others because one thinks one is superior, comes from the manner of peacocks as they ‘stick up’ their tail feathers to show their superiority over fellow peacocks.

When peacocks mate with peahens, they give out a loud “copulatory call" and they can fake this call to attract more females.

In India, the round markings on the tail fan are said to represent the eyes of gods.

Males are aggressively territorial and defend a small area called a lek.

The birds are weak flyers but good at leaping and can take to trees to evade predicators.

PEACOCKS IN HISTORY

The peacock is a native bird to India and may have been introduced into Europe by Alexander the Great. It was likely introduced into Britain by the Romans.

During the Medieval period, the consumption of peafowl was limited to the wealthy gentry, while the common people consumed more common birds, such as chicken. On a king's table, a peacock would often be for ostentatious display as much as for culinary consumption.

At the court of Henry VIII of England, peacocks were cooked then put back into their feathers so guests could see they weren't being hoodwinked with chicken.

In the later part of his life, George III of the United Kingdom had recurrent, and eventually permanent, mental illness. During one fit of madness King George insisted on ending every sentence with the word "peacock". This was a grave embarrassment to his ministers whenever he spoke in public. Eventually one of them thought of telling him the story that "peacock" was a particularly royal word and should therefore be whispered. The king took this on board and order was restored.

NBC is sometimes referred to as the "Peacock Network", in reference to its stylized peacock logo, which was originally created to highlight the network's color programming. The emblem made its first on-air appearance on May 22, 1956 and was retired by September 1975.

Original NBC peacock (1956) Wikipedia Commons

Source Daily Mail