How do peacocks reproduce

There are many scientists that study the mating behaviour of animals. I particularly studied them in the peafowl. I just used it as a model system for understanding more generally how animals select their mates.

I studied a captive population of about 40 birds in the United States. The reason I starting studying this is to primarily learn about animal behaviour, the decisions they make, what are the factors that influence how they choose their mating partners, how they deal with predators and so on. Peafowl, in particular, have an unusual mating system. They are called a lekking species, a certain type of mating system where a female has the choice of the type of male she wants to mate with.

A peahen will walk through several territories of different males, examining their displays and feathers closely, before selecting a mate. Once a female selects a mate, the male perches on her back and aligns his tail over top of her own.

Both peacock and peahen have the avian reproductive organ known as a cloaca, which transfers sperm in between partners. The peafowl align their cloacas and the male's sperm is transferred to the female, where it travels up the uterus to fertilize her egg through a series of muscular spasms.

Peahens will lay anywhere from two to six eggs in a shallow nest at ground level, which incubate for 28 to 30 days before hatching. The peahen's preference for males with flashy feathers ensures that the peacocks with the most impressive tail fans produce the most offspring. This is the process identified by Charles Darwin as natural selection, serving to further the genes of the most physically fit peacocks over time and enhancing the signature tail over many generations.

Edit Profile. Subscribe Now. Your Subscription Plan Cancel Subscription. Home India News Entertainment. HT Insight. My Account. Sign in. Male peacocks often part ways with the female peacocks after mating, and in search of new mates. The female peacocks do not expect male peacocks to help it to raise the young ones either. As per Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna is adorned with peacock feather as a sign of purity.

Peacock feather is considered pure because the myth has it that peacocks and peahens do not mate to reproduce, but that the peahen gets impregnated by swallowing peacock's tears. Want to know how peafowls have sex? For Quick Alerts. Subscribe Now. For Daily Alerts. Just In 55 min ago Viral video: year-old man rescued by Chennai woman cop, dies at hospital 1 hr ago All those raising slogan of 'Jai Shri Ram' not sages: Rashid Alvi 1 hr ago Explosion hits Afghanistan mosque during Friday prayers, at least 12 wounded.

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