FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT FOR MINOR RESEARCH PROJECT (for the Teachers of Government Arts and Science Colleges) Project entitled ABUNDANCE OF INDIAN PEAFOWL (PAVO CRISTATUS) IN THE OVELI FOREST AREA, THE NILGIRIS, WESTERN GHATS OF SOUTH INDIA” Submitted To TAMIL NADU STATE COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION CHENNAI (TANSCHE) (Ref: D.O.Rc.No. 1418/2014 A, dt 25-8-2014) Submitted By Dr. C.SUBRAMANIAN, M.Sc.,(Z) M.Sc.(W),Ph.D. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF WILDLIFE BIOLOGY DEPT. OF ZOOLOGY & WILDLIFE BIOLOGY GOVERNMENT ARTS COLLEGE, UDGAHAMANDALAM THE NILGIRIS-643 002, TAMIL NADU 2 Project Title : “ABUNDANCE OF INDIAN PEAFOWL (PAVO CRISTATUS) IN THE OVELI FOREST AREA, THE NILGIRIS, WESTERN GHATS OF SOUTH INDIA” Introduction The Peacocks are large, colorful pheasants (typically blue and green) known for their iridescent tails. These tail feathers, or coverts, spread out in a distinctive 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 hues. The large train is used in mating rituals and courtship displays. It can be arched into a magnificent fan that reaches 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. The pheasants are group of birds belong to the family Phasianidae of the Order Galliformes that includes pheasants, partridges and quails, commonly known as ‘game birds’ (Delacour, 1977). The Order Galliformes has small to large terrestrial birds, the presence of the lateral foramen marked out by fused manubrial spines of sternum is the only taxonomic character that this order is monophyletic and are related to Anseriformes (Urban et al 1986). The family Phasianidae is the largest and the most diverse assemblage (Johnsgard, 1986) and comprises of 38 genera, 155 species and 399 taxa distributed throughout the Old World. Out of 51 species of world’s pheasants, 17 species occur in India with very little ecological information. McGowan and Garson (1995) considered the pheasants as forest biodiversity indicators. Birds are widely recognized as good bio-indicators of the quality of the ecosystems and health of the environment (Gill, 1994). They are being used as tools for conservation and environmental impact assessment. Galliformes species are useful indicators of environmental quality and the assessment of their status is essential for management purposes (Fuller and Garson, 2000). The Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) also known as the Blue Peafowl was declared as the national bird of India during 1963 due to its ‘flagship’ value found on its glorious position in mythology and its widespread distribution and grandeur and comes in Schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) 3 Act, 1972. This bird is listed as of (LC) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Indian Peafowl is more commonly known as the peacock (male) or the peahen (female). The peacock is found to be an Indian origin where it is designated as National Bird and now it is lives in wild of many parts of the country. These birds are commonly known as game fowl or game birds, land fowl, gallinaceous birds or Galliformes. The family Phasianidae, being of the largest families of Galliformes, including the largest size peafowl’s (Hoya et al., 1994). The genus has its origins in Asia and can be found in India, Burma, Java and the Malay Peninsula. The Peafowl is a resident breeder across the Indian subcontinent and found mainly on the ground in dry, semi-desert areas, grasslands, scrublands, open and deciduous forest, roost in trees or other high places at night. Peafowl are omnivorous and eat seeds, insects, fruits, small mammals and reptiles. They feed on small snakes but keep their distance from larger ones (Johnsing, 1976). In Gir forest of Gujarat, a large percentage of their food is made up of the fallen berries of zizipus (Trivedi and Johnsing, 1995). Around cultivated areas, peafowl feed on wide range of crops such as groundnut, tomato, paddy, chilly and even bananas (Johnsing and Murali, 1978). Around human habitations, they feed on variety of food scraps and even human excreta (Ali and Repley, 1980). In the countryside, it is particularly partial to crops and garden plants. The male shows the characteristic colour tail feathers or train during breeding season. Its train makes the male peafowl one of the largest flying birds in the world. The Indian Peafowl are terrestrial birds, their loud calls make them easy to detect, and in forest birds, their loud calls make them easy to detect, and in forest areas often indicate the presence of a predator such as tiger. The species of peafowl found in the world are Pavo cristatus (blue peafowl), Pavo mudicus (Green peafowl) and Afropavo cogenesis (Congo peafowl). Blue peafowl is a native breed of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Srilanka, commonly called as Mayil in Tamil language. Peafowl breeds from April through October to October (Mushtaq-ul-Hassan et al., 2012). Indian Peafowls are polygamous and generally has to three breeding peahens in its harem 4 (Roberts,1992). Clutch is usually 4 to 9 eggs in natural condition and the incubation period is about 28-30 days (Anon, 2002). Peacock are large in body size, brilliant ornamented plumage and long train feather are surely attractive to public. When the length of the tail is included, female Indian peafowl have a body length of about three feet, while males can attain length of up 7 feet. Female Indian peafowl weigh about 7 Ibs. While males weigh about 11 Ibs. Like other pheasants, peafowl are adopted to a life of walking and foraging on the ground as they search for the seeds, plants, insects and reptiles for its diet. Peafowl fly when pressed by a predator or when retreating to their evening roosts. The elaborate train and its display of the male Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), which is a visual signal directed at female, has long been a subject of fascination and debate in the scientific world (Harikrishnan et al 2010). Peafowl roost in groups during the night on tall trees but may sometimes make use of rocks, buildings or pylons. A 2013 study that tracked the eye movements of peahens responding to male displays found that they looked in the direction of the upper train of feathers only when at long distances and that they looked only at the lower feathers when males displayed close to them. Peacocks are polygamous, and the breeding season is spread out but appears to be dependent on the rains. Peafowls usually reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 3 years old. Peafowl are omnivorous and eat seeds, insects, fruits, small mammals and reptiles. They feed on small snakes but keep their distance from larger ones (Johnsingh, 1976). Foraging in groups provides some safety as there are more eyes to look out for predators. Peafowl Male-Female Description The term "peacock" is commonly used to refer to birds of both sexes. Technically, only males are peacocks. Females are peahens, and together, they are called peafowl. Suitable males may gather harems of several females, each of which will lay three to five eggs. In fact, wild peafowl often roost in forest trees and gather in groups called parties. 5 Peacocks are a larger sized bird with a length from bill to tail of 110 to 115 cm and to the end of a fully grown train as much as 195 to 225 cm and weigh 4-6 kg. The female or peahens are among the largest and heaviest representatives of the living birds. Their size, colour and shape of crest make them unmistakable within their native distribution range. The male is metallic blue on the crown, the feathers of the head being short and curled (Blanford, 1898). The fan-shaped crest on the head is made of feathers with bare black shafts and tipped with bluish-green webbing. A white stripe above the eye and a crescent white patch below the eye are formed by bare white skin. The sides of the head have iridescent greenish blue feathers. The back has scaly bronze-feathers with black and copper markings. The scapular and the wings are buff and barred in black, the primaries are chestnut and the secondaries are black. The tail is dark brown and the “train” is made up of elongated upper tail coverts (more than 200 feathers, the actual tail has only 20 feathers) and nearly all of these feathers end with an elaborate eye-spot. A few of the outer feathers lack the spot and end in a crescent shaped black tip. The underside is dark glossy green shading into blackish under the tail. The thighs are buff coloured. The male has a spur on the leg above the hind toe (Whistler and Hugh, 1949; Blanford, 1898). The adult peahen has a rufous-brown head with a crest as in the male but the tips are chestnut edged with green. The upper body is brownish with pale mottling. The primaries, secondaries and tail are dark brown. The lower neck is metallic green and the breast feathers are dark brown glossed with green. The remaining under parts are whitish (Whistler and Hugh, 1949). Downy young are pale buff with a brown mark on the nape that connects with the eyes (Baker,1928). Young males look like females but the wings are chestnut coloured (Baker,1928; Ali and Ripley, 1980). The most common calls are a loud pia-ow or may-awe. The frequency of calling increases before the season and may be delivered in alarm or when disturbed by loud noises.