Function of the Peacock Tail
Research Topics
A peacock’s tail (or more professionally known as the “train”) is widely seen as a symbol of sexual selection. The idea that male peacocks are attracting females with their spectacular display came from Charles Darwin and, for a long time, was considered to be axiomatic. No one even attempted to check this theory with a corresponding experiment until the 1980s, when the first experimental data appeared on this topic.
Today the opinions are divided. According to earlier authors, male peacocks with a more beautiful and larger tail with more eyespots receive more attention from females and have increased reproductive success. According to the latest and the largest study of peacocks’ behaviour, peahens pay no attention to the male’s spectacular display, and there is absolutely no correlation between the size of the train or the number of eyespots and reproductive success.
I proposed that a peacock’s huge and colourful tail, covered with over 160 large eyespots, together with their loud piercing voice and their fearless behaviour, proves instead that male peacocks use the aposematic strategy of survival.
- "Peacock’s Tail: Tale of Beauty and Intimidation": excerpt from the 2011 book Why do People Sing?.
[...] A peacock with its long colorful tail is one of the most prodigious visual attributes of our planet. It was famously featured on a cover of Amotz Zahavi’s 1997 book, dedicated to the ‘handicap principle’. According to this principle, the honest signal can only be a morphological or behavioural element which comes with a cost to the bearer. So in the case of sexual selection, for example, the power of charming the opposite sex is so great that it outweighs the problems of survival that are caused by this morphological or behavioural feature. The peacock’s tail (known as ‘train’) is definitely the best known example of this principle. So let us now discuss this topic in a bit more detail [... Continue reading]
- "Peacock – The Rise and Fall of a Symbol?": excerpt from the 2014 book Tigers, Lions and Humans.
[...] For many readers who strongly believe in the evolutionary power of sexual selection, the discussion of a peacock’s aposematic features will be of crucial importance as the peacock train has been an enduring symbol of sexual selection. Readers should note from the beginning that the term “peacock” refers only to a male. Females of the same species are known by the name “peahen”, and the overall species name is “peafowl”. Therefore a peacock is a male peafowl, and in this section we will be predominantly discussing the evolutionary importance of the peacock’s tail (correct terminology for their tail is “train”) [... Continue reading]