Peacock Art

It's no surprise that Andy has a few pieces of peacock art in his collection, since he's drawn to the beautiful blue, gold, red, and other hues in their iridescent tails.

Did you know all peacocks are male? Females are called peahens, babies are called peachicks, and the whole group are peafowl.

There are three types of peafowl in the world: Indian, green, and Congo. Most people are familiar with the Indian peafowl, since that is the kind found in many zoos and parks. The Indian peacock has some of the brightest feathers, which is usually the subject of Andy's peacock art.

Peacocks use their bright feathers to attract a mate, while the considerably less attractive peahens use their mottled brown coloring to hide from predators in the bushes while they are incubating their eggs.

Here's something I didn't know but learned on Wikipedia... Occasionally, peafowl appear with white plumage. Although albino peafowl do exist, this is quite rare and almost all white peafowl are not, in fact, albinos: they have a genetic mutation called leucism which causes an overall reduction in pigment which, in peafowl, causes a complete lack of pigment in their plumage, but still leaves them with blue eyes; by contrast, true albino peafowl have a complete lack of melanin and therefore have white plumage, but also an albino's characteristic red or pink eyes. Leucistic peachicks are born yellow and become fully white as they mature. In case you're wondering, no, Andy hasn't painted white peafowl.

A peacock is one of the largest flying birds. Peafowl have an average lifespan of 20 years. A group of peafowl is called a party or a pride. They can be testy and do not mix well with other domestic birds.

Here are a few examples of Andy's peacock art: