Archives: Peacock

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

SICB Portland

Here is the poster we presented at SICB Portland last week on the biomechanics of peacock displays (click to enlarge): I think it turned out pretty well, although I’m not sure it could stand alone without an interpreter. We had a constant stream of awesome visitors. My coauthor Suzanne brought feathers and a model... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Feel the vibration

In between field work, I’ve been making a lot of videos lately – mostly for my students in the summer course in Ecology and the Environment. But my latest creation is entirely different: it’s for the upcoming American Ornithologists’ Union (read: bird nerd) conference. It features slow-motion clips of peacocks vibrating their train... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

How I learned to respect the peahen

Written for the Los Angeles Arboretum. Meep meep? More like “Honk honk!” Arboretum regulars will no doubt recognize the call of a startled peahen, but you may not be aware of the clever ways they use it. Not that they try to boast or taunt the enemy, necessarily, but I’m starting to think that... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Elections are like peacocks

Both are loud, and both cause colourful flashy things to pop up on lawns everywhere. And much like elections, the peacock’s train is a costly endeavour. The species might be better off in terms of survival and abundance if they could just do away with those feathers. In terms of sheer waste, they remind... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

What the?!

Check out the video below (source link). The peacock jumping spider is definitely worth your time, but skip to 2:45 if you’re in a hurry. Unbelievable! Thanks to Barrie Frost for sending this. From May 1,... More

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

A case of mistaken celebrity

They all look the same to us. Celebrities, that is. And by us, I mean academics. The proof starts with peacocks. Last fall, I was working on some measurements I took of the crest ornament in these birds. Peafowl have this funky little fan of feathers on top of their heads, and though it’s... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Groupthink

Which animal would use Facebook most, if it could? My poll in class last week was a popular one – a fact that I couldn’t properly enjoy, since Charlie came up with it for me in a fit of brain-dead incapacity. Charlie’s Facebook question elicited chirps of excitement, compliments and even a few drawings... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Field biology goes to Hollywood

One of the weirder things about my field site is that it is also a Hollywood set. A number of movies, TV shows and commercials have been filmed at the LA Arboretum, going back to Tarzan Escapes in the 1930s. The Arboretum had a regular appearance in the popular 1970s show Fantasy Island. In the opening credits, a... More

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Masters of illusion

It can be easy to see intelligence in the animals we spend a lot of time with. Everyone has their pet example, one of the most common being dogs who can anticipate the precise time of their owners’ return. But what does this really say about the mental life of dogs? Some birds are... 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

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