Peacocks are popular because everyone, without exception, knows about their beauty. They were mentioned in ancient mythology, in fairy tales of different peoples, and legends were made about them. And in some countries these birds are still considered sacred.
But does everyone know why and why these wonderful birds spread their tail? It turns out that there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon. So how is the peacock's tail different from the tail of other birds? Why do they open it like a fan? And is it possible to force a peacock to open its tail? Read more about this and much more in the article.
For centuries, peacocks have been considered an ornamental bird. They were kept on royal lands and grown for aesthetic pleasure. But at the beginning of the twentieth century, Europe abandoned such luxury - damage to gardens threatened considerable losses, and the unpleasant voice of birds did not allow keeping peacocks as pets.
Peacocks live about 20 years. Until one and a half years, representatives of both sexes look the same, but with the onset of puberty, males acquire upper covert feathers, which are finally formed by the age of three.
Where do feathers come from...
It turns out that it is not the tail that is covered with bright plumage, but the rump of the bird. The tail itself is under a massive “fan” cover, and is no different from a standard bird’s tail. Therefore, what we call a tail is not such.
An amazingly beautiful fan of outlandish colors grows directly from the male’s back - it is a continuation of his body. The miniature, real ponytail only participates in maintaining the beautiful design and ensures its functionality.
Eggplant appetizer
Ingredients:
- Eggplants – 4 pcs;
- Feta cheese – 200 grams;
- Sour cream – 2-3 tbsp;
- Tomatoes – 4-6 pcs;
- Cucumbers – 2-3 pcs;
- Olives – 0.5 cans;
- Vegetable oil;
- Salt - to taste;
- Garlic – 2-3 cloves;
- Dill - for decoration.
Cooking method:
- “Peacock tail” is a spectacular and tasty eggplant appetizer. It is often made with mayonnaise. But I suggest changing the classic recipe a little and using soft Feta cheese and sour cream.
- Prepare the necessary products.
- Wash the eggplants and cut them slightly diagonally to form oval circles.
- Salt them and leave for half an hour. After half an hour, rinse the eggplant slices under running water to remove the bitterness.
- Dry lightly and place on a greased baking sheet.
- Sprinkle vegetable oil on top. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes.
- Mix Feta with sour cream and pressed garlic. This filling will hold the eggplants and vegetables together.
- Since Feta cheese is quite salty, there is usually no need to add additional salt to eggplants or vegetables.
- Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into slices, and olives in half lengthwise.
- Spread a little Feta filling on each cooled eggplant slice. Place a tomato slice on top.
- Spread a little more Feta on top of the tomato and place a slice of cucumber.
- Place some Feta and half an olive on the cucumber.
- Place the eggplants in an oval dish and shape it into a peacock tail. For greater similarity, garnish the dish with dill.
Peacock appearance
The peacock's head has a small crest that resembles a crown. The plumage of the neck is mainly blue, but the back and wings shimmer in various shades. Peacocks have strong legs: there are spurs on the heels that allow them to defend themselves in dangerous moments. The bird's gait is proud and graceful.
The so-called “tail” of a peacock (let’s still dwell on this name) has an average length of 1.6 meters. And the length of the entire bird, from beak to tip of tail, is approximately 220 centimeters. In width, in the open position, the “tail” can reach three meters! The plumage of the uppertail is massive and dense. The feather is based on fibers that resemble threads. Different species of birds can have different shades of rump - blue, green, golden, and even white. The tip of the feather is compacted in composition, has a rounded shape, and looks like a fan. It is on this that the “eye” is located, characterized by bright colors and amazing color transitions.
There are up to 170 “eyes” in one bird’s tail. According to ancient legend, these are the eyes of Argus, the many-eyed “all-seeing” giant who guarded the mistress of Zeus. While one part of the giant's eyes was sleeping, the other was guarding his beloved. But one day the son of Zeus, Hermes, put Argus to sleep and killed him. Hera became very angry and placed the giant's eyes on the peacock's tail. So, after the death of the giant, his eyes can still monitor order.
Bright festive appetizer peacock tail
Ingredients:
- Eggplant
- Tomatoes
- cucumbers
- Mayonnaise
- Salt
- Olives
- Parsley
Cooking method:
- Rinse all vegetables thoroughly in water, then cut off the ends of the cucumbers and cut a green stalk from the tomato. Cut the fruits into slices.
- If the cucumbers are late varieties, then remove the peel from each fruit using a vegetable peeler. Cut off the end of the eggplant stem and cut it into slices at least 0.5 cm wide.
- Add salt to the sliced eggplant and place it in a container to release the bitter liquid. This will take 10-15 minutes, after which drain the liquid, rinse the slices in water and dry with paper napkins or towels
- Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan and heat it by placing the container on the stove. Place the sliced eggplant in it and fry on each side for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
- Then place them on a paper napkin, removing excess fat, especially if the spread consists of mayonnaise, and leave for 5 minutes to cool.
- After the fried slice has cooled, grease each circle with mayonnaise or lay out the spread, distributing it evenly
- After this, place sliced tomatoes on the eggplant mugs, and sliced cucumber on the tomatoes, securing them together with mayonnaise if necessary. Place the olives, cut in half, last.
- Serve the prepared dish to the table or cool it in the refrigerator for about half an hour, garnish with fresh herbs when serving.
Why does a peacock have such a big and bright tail?
Before drawing conclusions about any phenomenon in the behavior of birds, ornithologists spend a long time and painstakingly observing the habits of peacocks. After much research and debate, scientists finally settled on a consensus. Today we can safely say that peacocks need a tail to survive under conditions of natural selection. This bird cannot fly long distances, but moves quite deftly on its feet.
And although the tail does not particularly interfere with their movement, if it were absent, the bird could still be more agile. Naturally, when a representative of a species is weak and not hardy, it will be more difficult for him to hide from a predator - such is the law of natural selection.
To mate, the female must choose the male she likes the most. Nature provided her with a good choice, and the males with good competition. The ideal candidate should have the largest, thickest, and most beautiful tail. The male performs a graceful courtship dance in front of the female. He turns to her in different directions, opens his tail, rustles his feathers. By the way, females do not have such beautiful plumage as males.
This point is also thought out by nature, because the female who hatches the chicks must remain invisible to predators. They are usually grayish-brown, with characteristic patches on the neck. The inconspicuous coloring of females allows them to deftly hide in the grass and move without great risks.
Appetizer “Peacock tail with Feta cheese”
Ingredients:
- medium-sized eggplants
- tomatoes
- cucumbers
- Feta cheese - more than one hundred grams
- sour cream - a couple of spoons
- salt
- garlic - a couple of cloves
- dill for garnishing the dish
- vegetable oil
- black pitted olives
Cooking method:
- Cut the eggplants slightly diagonally to form oval slices and sprinkle them with salt. After 30 minutes, rinse, the bitterness should go away from the eggplants, and dry.
- Place on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- During this time, knead the Feta cheese with a couple of spoons of sour cream and crushed garlic. This creates a paste onto which we will “stick” vegetables.
- Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into thin slices, and pitted olives into halves.
- We form the appetizer like this: Spread cheese paste on a slice of eggplant, top with tomato, paste, cucumber, olive oil.
- We place all the “feathers” on an oval dish in the shape of a peacock’s tail. In the spaces between the “feathers” we put a little dill.
Why do peacocks reveal their tail feathers?
Surely, many have seen a peacock, but not everyone was able to see the “fan” in an open state. How to force a peacock to show its tail? Unfortunately, no way. You can only catch the bird during this process, but you will not be able to influence the tail in any way. Of course, you can scare the bird, but most likely the peacock will simply run away and not show off in front of you. Still, in some cases you can predict a beautiful sight. For example, if you get to the zoo at the right time.
But this is not the only factor that makes the male peacock reveal his marvelous tail. The main reasons are also:
The number of eyes on a peacock's tail indicates its immunity.
A little later, another interesting work appeared, this time performed by French scientists from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. They compared the number of “eyes” on the bird’s tail and the level of antibodies in the blood (as well as how quickly they arise when an infection enters the peacock’s body) and found that the decoration of the tail directly correlates with the health of the peacock. Those who had more “eyes” also had better immunity. Thus, females, choosing the most beautiful gentleman, simultaneously received the healthiest partner (from whom they can also expect healthy offspring).
Dance of procreation
The main goal of these dances is to win the peahen. It turns out that it is important for the female to see the tail both closed and open. By the closed tail, a peahen can determine the age of the male, his strength, and state of health. But in the open tail, the feathered bride evaluates the condition and number of feathers.
During courtship, the peacock slowly opens its tail, showing it to the female in all sorts of the most advantageous poses. The male dances until the chosen one shows any signs of attention. The peahen has a few minutes to examine the male and make a decision. When the feathered bride agrees, the groom gives her a treat, and the couple can begin breeding. As a rule, the “dance” of a male lasts 15-20 minutes, and this is quite enough to win the heart of a lady.
The beauty of the peacock's tail does not help him when choosing females
However, in 2008, work by Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo appeared, which cast some doubt on the conclusions made by Ms. Petri.
Biologists decided to repeat her observations and as a result, over seven years they studied the mating behavior of more than a thousand pairs of Indian peacocks. The data they collected clearly showed that
- nor the size of the tail,
- nor his "pomp",
- nor the notorious number of “eyes”
do not play a role at all when a female chooses a mate.
Division of territory
When the time comes to reproduce, each bird becomes a competitor for its relatives. Males show off in front of each other, thus eliminating rivals - whose tail is better is worthy of a female. Seeing that the competitor has undeniable advantages, weaker males, as a rule, do not engage in fights and leave.
Territorial disputes often reach interspecies competition. As a demonstration of its power and serious intentions, the peacock can spread its tail when defending its territory. The same thing can happen if someone tries to eat a peacock. For example, zoo visitors noticed an interesting fact: a peacock can open its tail, taking food from other birds. Apparently, in their understanding it should look intimidating.
Communication with others like you
Peacocks can communicate using infrasound signals. When a male dances in front of a female, he creates peculiar vibrations of his feathers in order to convey his message to the female and “hear” the answer of the chosen one. Competitive disputes also occur. The human ear, unfortunately, cannot detect this sound.
But what you can hear from peacocks is their cry, which, as a rule, symbolizes anxiety. It is hardly possible to seduce a female with such a heart-rending cry, because the cry of a peacock resembles a cat whose tail has been stepped on. Therefore, to conquer the lady of their heart, they still use their luxurious “fan”.
With Chiken
Eggplant peacock tail, the recipe photo of which is left with almost every housewife after the holidays, can be prepared with chicken meat. The dish turns out satisfying.
What ingredients will you need?
To prepare a treat for the family you will need:
- blue;
- tomato;
- Bell pepper;
- chicken fillet (2 pcs.);
- hard cheese (0.2 kg);
- mayonnaise;
- greenery.
Use any spices of your choice and salt.
Step-by-step cooking process
To prepare a fan of blueberries with chicken, you need:
- At the first stage, wash the vegetables under running water and remove the core and seeds from the sweet pepper.
- After this, the blue one is cut into slices, without bringing the knife all the way to the end, to make a fan. The tomato is cut into rings, and the pepper into strips.
- Next, the raw chicken fillet is washed under running water and cut into strips.
- At the next stage, wash the greens under running water and chop them in any convenient way.
- After this, the eggplant is placed on a baking sheet, previously covered with culinary parchment, and chopped vegetables and meat are placed between the “feathers”.
- Next, the dish is sprinkled with grated cheese and filled with mayonnaise, to which salt and spices have previously been added. Then sprinkle with herbs.
- At the final stage, the baking sheet is placed in the oven for 50 minutes, the temperature is set to 200˚C.
The treat is served warm. White wine goes well with peacock tail and chicken.
What don't we already know about peacocks?
So, we have already decided what functions the peacock’s tail performs and why it opens. But there are a few more interesting facts that are worthy of your attention:
- Peacocks are close relatives of chickens. Peacocks are often confused with pheasants, but they are very different from each other.
- Peacocks are unpretentious to their habitat and easily adapt to changes in both weather and climatic conditions. Therefore, they can be found in many zoos around the world - peacocks “take root” almost everywhere.
- In India and Iran, this bird is considered sacred.
- A peacock can have its own “harem” of 3-5 females, with whom the male lives at the same time.
- In addition to its own “harem,” a peacock can easily “visit” a nearby male and relieve itself with its females. In these birds this behavior is considered quite normal.
- Exclusively in the Russian interpretation, the peacock is a symbol of pride and arrogance. Hence the expression: “fluff your tail like a peacock.”
- Peacocks can sing, although their voice is not very pleasant. It’s good that the beauty of the tail at least somehow compensates for this shortcoming.
- The male's tail is formed before 3 years of age.
- Among the peacocks, there are also white ones - a phenomenon of rare beauty. Scientists say that these are not albinos, but ordinary peacocks, just white in color. Be that as it may, the beauty of these birds is mesmerizing.
- Many people would like to have such a thing as a peacock feather at home as a souvenir. However, this is considered to be a bad omen - the goddess Hera will send disaster to anyone who offends this sacred bird.
- Peacocks live up to 20 years.
- Peacocks are very sensitive to weather changes and natural disasters.
- Peacocks were once bred for the royal palace, but over time Europe abandoned this idea.
- Peacock meat tastes like chicken. Therefore, it is not profitable to breed them to meet food needs. But for aesthetic pleasure, peacocks are quite suitable.
Eggplant appetizer
Ingredients:
- 2 medium-sized smooth eggplants;
- 3 medium sized tomatoes;
- 2 small cucumbers;
- 2 tablespoons of low-fat sour cream;
- canned olives (black, pitted) feta cheese (at least 100 g);
- salt;
- two cloves of garlic;
- fresh dill;
- vegetable oil.
Cooking method:
- Wash the eggplants, dry them, remove the stem, cut into oval slices diagonally, sprinkle with salt. After half an hour, rinse, dry, place on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil and bake for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 180ºC.
- While the eggplants are being prepared, mash the cheese with sour cream, mix with peeled pressed garlic. Cut washed, dried tomatoes with the stem removed and cucumbers with their ends cut off into thin slices. Cut the olives in half.
- Fan out the baked eggplant slices on an oval platter. Grease each with cheese, sour cream and garlic mixture, place tomato slices on top, grease them as well, then arrange cucumber slices and decorate each with half an olive.
- The final touch is to place lush feathery sprigs of washed and dried dill between the “peacock eyes”.
Types of peacocks
Initially, there were only two types of peacocks in nature: green and ordinary. However, as a result of crossings, “hybrid” varieties appeared. White peacocks are one of these mutations. In addition to the incredible white color, the birds have very beautiful blue eyes.
There is another variety - black-winged peacocks. They appeared recently. A little earlier than the black-winged peacocks, lavender peacocks appeared - these birds received this name because of the lavender color on the “fan” feathers.
How to cook “Fried eggplant “Peacock tail””
Prepare your ingredients.
Let the eggs cook, cut the eggplants into slices.
Fry in oil until golden brown.
Then place on a napkin to drain off any remaining oil.
For the salad, grate processed cheese and boiled eggs on a fine grater. Press the garlic through a press. Add salt and pepper to taste, mix and season with mayonnaise. The mass should be quite thick.
Cut the cucumber into thin slices. Cut a quarter of the pepper into thin slices. Cut the olives in half.
Spread each eggplant circle with salad mixture. Place a slice of cucumber on one end of the circle and place half an olive on top. On the opposite end we place a strip of pepper along the very edge.
Place the eggplants and fried “Peacock Tail” beautifully on a dish and serve. Bon appetit!
