# Peacock — Facts, Threats & Conservation

*Pavo cristatus*

> A peacock is the male of the peafowl, a large ground-dwelling pheasant whose shimmering, eyespotted tail train is fanned out to attract mates; the Indian peafowl is Least Concern, but the green peafowl is Endangered.

**IUCN status:** Varies by species (Least Concern to Endangered)  ·  **WARN range:** South Asia

## Quick facts
| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Lifespan | Up to ~25 years in the wild; around 16-23 years in captivity |
| Weight | Males 4-6 kg (9-13 lb); females 2.75-4 kg (6-9 lb) |
| Size | Male up to ~1.1-1.2 m body with a 1.5-1.8 m (5-6 ft) train; wingspan ~1.4-1.6 m |
| Diet | Omnivore: seeds, grains, berries, insects, small reptiles |
| Incubation | About 28 days |
| Young per clutch | Typically 4-8 eggs |
| Baby name | Peachick |
| Group name | Ostentation, muster, party, or pride |
| Species count | 3 (Indian, green, Congo peafowl) |
| CITES | Indian peafowl not CITES-listed; green peafowl listed on CITES Appendix II |

## Scientific classification
- **Kingdom:** Animalia
- **Phylum:** Chordata
- **Class:** Aves
- **Order:** Galliformes
- **Family:** Phasianidae
- **Genus:** Pavo
- **Species:** Pavo cristatus (Indian peafowl)

## Conservation status
- **Status:** Least Concern (Indian peafowl); status varies by species
- **Population:** Indian peafowl population large and not quantified precisely; green peafowl ~10,000-19,999 mature individuals; Congo peafowl ~2,500-9,000 individuals
- **Trend:** Stable (Indian peafowl); decreasing (green and Congo peafowl)
- **Assessed:** 2016 (Indian peafowl); green peafowl Endangered since 2009
- **CITES:** Indian peafowl not listed; green peafowl on CITES Appendix II
- Conservation status differs sharply across the three peafowl species, from Least Concern for the Indian peafowl to Endangered for the green peafowl.

## Key facts: Peacock
- "Peacock" is the male; the female is a peahen, and "peafowl" covers both. Babies are peachicks.
- There are three peafowl species: Indian, green, and Congo. The Indian peafowl is the famous blue bird most people picture.
- The male's spectacular train is not its actual tail. It is made of elongated upper-tail covert feathers raised over the true tail during display.
- Conservation status varies sharply: the Indian peafowl is Least Concern, the green peafowl is Endangered, and the Congo peafowl is Near Threatened.
- Indian peafowl are native to South Asia and are the national bird of India, where they are culturally protected.
- They are omnivores, eating seeds, grains, berries, insects, and small reptiles, and roost in trees at night to avoid predators.

## What is a peacock, and what makes the train so famous?
A peacock is the male of the peafowl, a large member of the pheasant family. Its signature feature is the train: a fan of up to roughly 200 elongated covert feathers, each tipped with a colorful eyespot, or ocellus. These feathers are not the bird's true tail; the actual tail feathers sit beneath and prop the train upright during display. When courting, a male raises and quivers the train into a vast iridescent fan, the colors shifting with the angle of light because of microscopic structures in the feathers rather than pigment alone. Peahens are smaller and camouflaged in mottled brown, which helps them stay hidden while nesting on the ground. The train grows back each year after the breeding season and reaches full size when a male is several years old.

## Where peafowl live and what they eat
The Indian peafowl is native to South Asia, ranging across India, Sri Lanka, and neighboring areas, in forests, farmland edges, and scrub where open ground meets cover. It has also been introduced to parks and estates in many other countries. Green peafowl live in Southeast Asia, and the Congo peafowl is restricted to rainforests in Central Africa. Peafowl are omnivorous ground foragers, feeding on seeds, grains, fruits, flower parts, insects, worms, and small reptiles or amphibians; near villages they will also raid cultivated crops. They feed mostly at dawn and dusk and fly up into trees to roost at night, which protects them from ground predators.

## Breeding, peachicks, and behavior
During the breeding season males display to groups of peahens, and a female chooses a mate partly based on the quality of his train and display. The peahen alone builds a simple ground nest and lays a clutch of about 4 to 8 eggs, incubating them for roughly 28 days. The downy chicks, called peachicks, can walk and feed soon after hatching and follow their mother closely. Peafowl are loud, with a far-carrying call often heard before rain or at dawn. Although they spend most of their time on the ground, they are strong short-distance fliers, bursting upward to escape danger or reach a roost.

## Conservation: a tale of three species
Peafowl conservation cannot be summed up by a single label, because the three species face very different futures. The Indian peafowl is widespread and assessed as Least Concern, with a large and stable population, helped by cultural reverence and legal protection in India. The green peafowl, by contrast, has been listed as Endangered since 2009, with its population fragmented and declining due to hunting, egg collection, and habitat loss across Southeast Asia. The Congo peafowl is Near Threatened, with a relatively small population in the Congo Basin threatened by deforestation and bushmeat hunting. So while the peacock you are most likely to see is doing well, two of its relatives need active protection.

## The three peafowl species compared
| Species | Native region | IUCN status | Notable feature |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Indian peafowl | South Asia (India, Sri Lanka) | Least Concern | Classic blue neck; national bird of India |
| Green peafowl | Southeast Asia | Endangered | Green-gold plumage; both sexes more similar |
| Congo peafowl | Central Africa (Congo Basin) | Near Threatened | Smaller, forest-dwelling; lacks long train |

## What WARN does
WARN does not currently fund field projects for peafowl. As a launch-stage network, our funded conservation work is concentrated in five countries (Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, and Colombia), and the peacock falls outside that scope. We publish this guide as educational and search-optimized content that supports our broader mission of building global awareness of wildlife and the habitats animals depend on. We will not overstate our role: where peafowl populations such as the green peafowl are genuinely threatened, the most honest thing we can do today is help people understand the species accurately and direct support toward the habitat-protection work that underpins healthy ecosystems everywhere.

Love the peacock's dazzling display? The wild places that birds like peafowl depend on are shrinking. While WARN does not yet fund peafowl projects directly, your gift to Support Habitat Protection helps safeguard the forests and ecosystems that wildlife everywhere needs to thrive.

## Frequently asked questions: Peacock
### What is the difference between a peacock and a peahen?
A peacock is the male, with the large iridescent train and bright blue neck. A peahen is the female, which is smaller and mottled brown for camouflage and lacks the showy train. Together they are called peafowl.

### Are peacocks endangered?
It depends on the species. The Indian peafowl is Least Concern and common. The green peafowl is Endangered, and the Congo peafowl is Near Threatened, so two of the three peafowl species are of conservation concern.

### What is a baby peacock called?
A baby peafowl is called a peachick. Peachicks hatch covered in down and can walk and feed themselves within hours, following the peahen closely.

### What is a group of peacocks called?
A group of peafowl is most often called an ostentation or a muster, and sometimes a party or a pride. "Ostentation" is a fitting name given the male's flamboyant display.

### What do peacocks eat?
Peafowl are omnivores. They eat seeds, grains, fruits, berries, and flower parts along with insects, worms, and small reptiles or amphibians, and they will sometimes feed on cultivated crops near farmland.

### Can peacocks fly?
Yes. Although peafowl spend most of their time on the ground, they are capable short-distance fliers. They burst upward to escape predators and to reach the tree branches where they roost at night.

## Sources
- [IUCN Red List: Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus)](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22679435/92814454)
- [IUCN Red List: Green peafowl (Pavo muticus)](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22679440/131749282)
- [BirdLife DataZone: Green peafowl factsheet](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/green-peafowl-pavo-muticus)
- [Wikipedia: Indian peafowl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_peafowl)
- [Wikipedia: Congo peafowl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_peafowl)
- [Animal Diversity Web: Pavo cristatus](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pavo_cristatus/)
- [PBS Nature: Peacock Fact Sheet](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/peacock-fact-sheet/)

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Full guide: https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/peacock