FLORIDA

Peacock Proliferation

By Athena Yang

Longboat Key, FL, United States

Well, it is hard to find chickens around here, so I will tell you more information about peacocks. Peacocks are colorful pheasants (typically blue and green). The tail feathers spread out in a unique train that is more than 60 percent of the bird’s total body length and boast colorful eye markings of blue, gold, red, and other colors.

The large train is used in mating acts and courtship displays. It can be arched into an awesome fan. It can reach across the bird’s back and touches the ground on either side.

Females are believed to choose their mates according to the size, color, and quality of these outrageous feather trains. Females peacocks can have about three to five eggs.

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Math Resources

If a female peacock, called a peahen, can lay three to five eggs, and she lays one every other day, how many days will it take for her to be finished?
It takes 28 days for an egg to hatch. If a peahen could start laying eggs immediately after hatching, how many chicks could be potentially give birth to in an entire year?
The cost of a peacock egg can vary, but it’s typically more than an egg from a chicken. What’s the most expensive egg you would buy that you would eat? How about if you were going to hatch it instead?

Extension Question

Find other examples of invasive species, both animals and plants, overrunning an area. Create a story about the damage caused by one of these species.

Explore Further

Website for Longboat Key’s Chamber of Commerce
News story about the local peacock controversy
News video about efforts to control the peacock population

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