• ‘The gorgeous peacock is the glory of God’. A sanskrit verse says. It seems the poachers  are only interested in its white meat and eggs and  tail feathers and not in its glorifying God. Due to poaching and use of pesticides their numbers are decreasing alarmingly. So much so that the 11th bird fair in Jaipur at the Man Sagar Lake was dedicated to the peacock to bring awareness to its plight. A census was also organized to count the actual birds.

• There was a time when these birds were everywhere in the north, west and central India. It had been proclaimed the national bird so it was protected by law and according to the scriptures it was thought to be a vehicle of Goddess Saraswati (learning), Kartikeya (god of war) and Subrahmanya (god of yogic powers).

• Alexander the great took back with him to Greece 200 birds and they spread to western Asia, North Africa, Europe and America.

• It is said that on the peacock throne of Emperor Shah Jahan there were two figures of be-jeweled peacocks.

• Indian Peacock has fan shaped tips to their tail feathers and the Burmese sub species has pointed tips. The peacock unfurls these feathers to attract the pea hen. They shed all their tail feathers every year and grow new ones.

• The Peacock is  the first bird to sound the alarm of the approach of a tiger or a leopard in the jungle.

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