Peacock fans filmed from peahen's perspective
Scientists in the US have used eye-tracking cameras to work out exactly what peahens find alluring in a peacock's tail fan.
The male birds grow their trains of iridescent feathers during the mating, or lekking, season, fanning them out and rattling them to attract a mate.
This team of biologists fitted peahens with eye-trackers to find out what they looked at during this display.
Their results are reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
In this clip, the peacock's display can be seen as filmed from a peahen's head and lead researcher Jessica Yorzinski explains what the study revealed.
Footage courtesy of Jessica Yorzinski, Purdue University
25 Jul 2013
- From the section Science & Environment