{"id":4625,"date":"2025-02-06T13:40:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T13:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/de\/?p=4625"},"modified":"2026-05-03T20:53:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T19:53:46","slug":"peacock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/peacock","title":{"rendered":"Peacocks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With tukki<\/em> one most likely refers to the Blue Peacock (Pavo cristatus<\/em>), which has been kept as a domesticated bird since antiquity (1Kgs 10:22; 2Chr 9:21). In Tamil, spoken in Sri Lanka\u2014the homeland of the peacock\u2014it is called tokai<\/em>. It is assumed that traders introduced it to Israel under this name during the time of Solomon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pavo cristatus<\/em>, the Blue Peacock, spreads its long train of feathers with the colorful \u00abpeacock eyes\u00bb into an amazing fan, slowly sways it back and forth, and\u2014at the height of its display\u2014makes it tremble with a loud rustling sound through muscular tension.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because of its spectacular plumage, it was kept as an ornamental bird. To this day, it has not become native to Israel and continues to live there only under human care. However, it can be allowed to roam freely, as it is faithful to its location and voluntarily returns every evening to its habitual roost. The peacock is considered a symbol of vanity, pride, and luxury. The sight of it displaying its train is impressive. In hunters\u2019 jargon, it is then called a \u00abtrain-fanning peacock\u00bb. The long tail feathers greatly restrict the male\u2019s ability to fly, and the bright colors make it very difficult for it to hide. According to the handicap principle, it is precisely this disadvantage that makes it attractive to females. Whoever survives despite such opulent display must be \u00aba real specimen\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A lattice of tiny air chambers within the feather barbs scatters incoming light through interference, producing iridescent colors of opalescence. This means we are dealing here with structural colors, not ones produced by pigments. A crushed feather turns into a dull gray powder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The blue crest on its head, the brilliantly glowing neck and breast plumage, and the \u00abpeacock eyes\u00bb in its tail feathers shimmer with iridescence. This means they reflect light\u2014like a soap bubble\u2014so that it glimmers in all the colors of the rainbow depending on the angle of incidence. When the peacock struts about in sunlight, it creates a magnificent spectacle. The underlying optical effects have been studied very precisely, leading to fascinating discoveries: the microstructure of the feather surfaces breaks down and reflects incoming light in grids with precisely defined spacing. One can only marvel at such lavish beauty. In other species, one can see that things can be much simpler. When structures are far more elaborate than necessary to fulfill their function, this can be described as \u00abplayful complexity\u00bb and seen as a \u00abdesign signal\u00bb. The Creator shows that He is concerned with more than the mere fulfillment of biological functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A delicate little crown and a few iridescent neck feathers adorn her as well, but otherwise the ladies appear somewhat pale beside their sparkling suitors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freyer, P; Wilts, BD; Stavenga, DG: Reflections on iridescent neck and breast feathers of the peacock, Pavo cristatus<\/em>. Interface Focus 2018; 9:20180043; doi: 10.1098\/rsfs.2018.0043<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weiss, IM; Kirchner, HOK: The peacock\u2019s train (Pavo cristatus and Pavo cristatus mut. alba) I. structure, mechanics, and chemistry of the tail feather coverts<\/em>. Journal of Experimental Zoology 2010; 313(A):690-703; doi: 10.1002\/jez.641<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Image credits<\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia: Female peacock \/ Thomas Quine \/\/ Peacock eye (top) \/ MichaelMaggs \/\/ Peacock eye (bottom) \/ Thomas Bresson

other licenses: Title \u2013 Portrait of a peacock \/ shutterstock_412807438.jpg \/ Rosalba Matta-Machado \/\/ Peacock displaying train \/ shutterstock_1760326532.jpg \/ Mariola Anna S.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With tukki one most likely refers to the Blue Peacock (Pavo cristatus), which has been kept as a domesticated bird since antiquity (1Kgs 10:22; 2Chr[\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"remove_blocks_before_content":false,"remove_blocks_after_content":false,"disable_reading_progress_bar":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds-of-the-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4625"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5536,"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions\/5536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parquediscovery.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}