Archives: Eyespots

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Furious about eyespots

I think I flubbed an interview this week. My supervisor Bob and I just published a paper that is getting some press, because it addresses a recent controversy about the peacock’s train1. Eager for the interview with Nature News, I wasn’t exactly prepared with good lines for the reporter to go on – and I... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Deep archives: Irreducible beauty

                              Were peacocks designed with this kind of audience in mind? A while back I was searching for images of peacock feathers on Google, and I stumbled upon this article. It’s a piece by Stuart Burgess, an engineer who is head... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Deep archives: Lek perspective

Males display in the “Wild Asia” exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, which can only be seen by riding the zoo monorail. The structure behind the birds is the monorail track. I’ve had some success on this trip after all. The weather was perfect for my model experiments yesterday (sunny, warm, not too much wind),... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Deep archives: Further notes from the field: deliberation, surprise and a misguided attempt

A few more things worth mentioning: The other day we saw a female following a very interesting (and rather human-like) pattern while shopping around for a mate. She was visiting a particular male, and she’d watch him for a few moments (not always directly; it’s a good idea for females to seem as though... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Deep archives: Numbers, gathered

With our first two weeks of observations behind us, I thought I’d write about what we’ve gathered so far. Fifteen copulations, all involving unstickered males: 6 for male 30, 5 for male 42, 3 for male 31, and 1 for male 38 (this last one is most triumphant since 38 is a male with... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Deep archives: Eyeful or eyesore?

One of the main reasons for coming to California this year is that I’m doing an experiment to understand how peahens choose their mates. Specifically, I’m testing whether the colour of the males’ eyespot feathers is important. My methods? Hundreds of coloured stickers, cut from sheets of sail tape. The good news is the... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Deep archives: I get my hands dirty

One thing I’ve felt a little bad about here is the amount of shit, literally, that my field assistant Rob has had to deal with. He’s the one who has to hold each peacock still in his lap for about an hour while I carefully measure and apply stickers to all of their tail... More

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