Scientists unveil the genome of India’s national bird

by Manupriya on 4 June 2018

A team of researchers has sequenced the genome of India’s national bird, the peacock.

The genome analysis reveals 99 genes that are unique to peacocks. These genes are not present in other evolutionarily related birds such as turkey and chicken.

These unique genes could be responsible for peacock’s feathers and its long life span.

After a two-year long effort, a team of researchers from IISER-Bhopal has been able to sequence the genome of India’s national bird, the peacock (Pavo cristatus). Knowledge of the genome can provide insight into the genetic reasons that enable peacocks to have ornate feathers and fly despite their weight – two characteristics of the peacock that have been puzzling scientists.

The researchers have made their findings publicly available on the research pre-print server bioRXiv (pronounced bio archive). They also hope to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed journal, soon.

The study revealed that the entire peacock genome consists of 1.1 billion base pairs (base pairs are units of DNA) and codes for a total of 15970 genes. When these genes were compared with those of closely related birds like chicken and turkey, the researchers found that up to 99 genes in peacock are strikingly different.

Most of these ‘different’ genes are involved in early embryonic development or in providing immunity to the bird. These genes could also be reason behind the “unusual size and structure of peacock feathers and its higher longevity,” said lead researcher Vineet K Sharma, an associate professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, IISER Bhopal.

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A woman tried to board a plane with her emotional-support peacock. United wouldn't let it fly.

By Lindsey Bever and Eli Rosenberg January 30 at 5:31 PM Email the author

K-9s, felines . . . and peacocks.

Airlines that have begun talking about tightening restrictions on a proliferating array of “emotional support” animals on commercial flights may have found their case bolstered this week after a picture of a peacock that was reportedly denied a seat aboard a United Airlines flight traveled far and wide.

The Jet Set, a travel-focused television show based in Washington, posted the photo on Facebook of the resplendent blue-and-green bird, saying that the “emotional support peacock” had been denied boarding on a flight at Newark International Airport.

United Airlines confirmed that the exotic animal was barred from the plane Saturday because it “did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size.”

Read on 

Is it a bird? No, it's vermin: Goa reclassifies the peacock

Move by India’s popular tourist state could lead to mass culling of the country’s national bird

The peacock is India’s national bird and is protected under the country’s Wildlife Protection 

Agence France-Presse

Friday 12 February 2016 12.45 GMTLast modified on Friday 12 February 201612.53 GMT

India’s popular tourist state of Goa has ruffled feathers with its proposal to reclassify its national bird, the peacock, as vermin, reports said.

The move, which is aimed at making the bird easier to cull, comes just weeks after Goa’s legislative assembly caused similar consternation when it ruled that the resort state’s beloved coconut trees were not in fact trees, but palms.

 “We have listed several wild species, including wild boar, monkey, wild bison (gaur), peacock as nuisance animals,” the Press Trust of India quoted Goa’s agriculture minister, Ramesh Tawadkar, as saying.

“These animals are creating [a] problem for farmers and are destroying their cultivation in rural areas,” he told reporters, according to the PTI report.

The peacock is India’s national bird and is protected under the country’s Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

But animal rights groups fear the Goa government’s proposal to reclassify the peacock as a “nuisance animal” will make it easier to cull the birds.

“Goa seems to be trying to … [have] India’s national bird labelled this way so that they may be hunted and killed,” Poorva Joshipura, the CEO of Peta India, said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/12/bird-vermin-goa-reclassifies-the-peacock-india

National bird is in safe hands

What would anyone do if he or she found a peacock injured in a farm? At least a few on a 10-point scale, the meat-lovers especially, would grill it or make a delicacy, gobble it up on the sly. For the bird we are talking about is India’s National Bird and consumption of its meat is a crime by law.

But near Pebbair town in a drought-hit Mahabubnagar district on Thursday morning, farmer P. Yella Reddy, who found an injured peacock on his field, behaved like a perfect human being with some values and respect for the law too. He rushed it on his two-wheeler to the Government Veterinary Hospital in the town where it was treated, and after a while, he left it at the police station for safety. When asked, he said it may have been hurt by pig-catchers who were known to hunt peacocks.

On Friday evening, Yella Reddy called this correspondent to inform that he could not find it at the Pebbair police station where he had left the bird on Thursday afternoon.

“We took it to the veterinary doctor who saw that its lower jaw was badly injured. He began treatment - patched up the wound, administered TT and started penicillin. After an hour or so, we took the bird to the police station but on Friday somebody told me it was not there anymore. I fear it is dead. Can you check up and tell me?” he asked.

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Peacocks' tails make noises too low for humans to hear

The tails of peacocks aren't just pretty to look at. They also make infrasound that humans can't hear

Presented by

Michael Marshall

Peacock tails are one of the most beautiful sights in the animal kingdom. But they're not just pretty to look at. The birds also use their huge tails to make a loud noise – which humans are utterly incapable of hearing.

When a peacock shakes his tail, it produces a sound that is so low-pitched, humans can't hear it. That's despite the noise being about as loud as a car going past a few metres away.

Angela Freeman and James Hare of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada have shown that peacocks can make these "infrasound" noises with their tails. The birds can also sense and respond to the noise.

"Humans don't often think about infrasound as a potential signal, because we don't perceive it," says Freeman. "I think it's more common than we think."

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Peacocks fake sex sounds to attract females

By Ella Davies

Reporter, BBC Nature

The birds are known for shaking their tail feathers but Canadian researchers have revealed a further sexual tactic.

Peacocks have a wide vocabulary of calls, and during mating they make a distinctive hoot.

Biologists also recorded males making this sound when out of sight of females and suggest such deception could prove rewarding for the birds.

The findings are published in The American Naturalist.

Peacocks are one of the most obvious examples of advertising sexual fitness in the animal kingdom with their eye-catching plumage and strutting courtship displays.

The mating behaviour takes place in open areas of land referred to as a "lek".

When a male has successfully attracted a female, or peahen, it rushes at her making a distinctive hooting call before attempting to mate.

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Pet peacock killed in Texas after attacking women

HOUSTON (AP) — The suburban Houston caretaker of a pet peacock dubbed "Meanie" has shot and killed his feathered friend after the bird fanned his feathers and used his talons to attack several women.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office says in a statement the peacock attacked a woman on Friday while she was being questioned by a deputy investigating a complaint about the bird. The deputy fired a stun gun at the peacock, but he continued his attack. The statement says the frightened woman fled indoors and the peacock's caretaker used his shotgun to kill the bird.

The peacock's caretaker Riley Richards told KHOU-TV (http://bit.ly/1hkd7Yo ) he and his wife called the bird Meanie. He says the bird, who was owned by his daughter, had previously attacked other female relatives.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/texas/article/Pet-peacock-killed-in-Texas-after-attacking-women-5238244.php

Peacock update: Wild bird caught in Reigate Avenue and returned to Hobblesdown children's farm in Epsom

A wild peahen chase in Sutton and Morden has ended peacefully after a group of residents snared the elusive bird.

After several weeks on the run, the majestic creature, which had been strutting around Sutton and Merton, has finally been returned to a Hobbledown children's farm in Epsom.

Not a bird renowned for its shyness, the peahen had been game enough to be caught on camera more than once by members of the public, who sent us in a selection of pictures.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said it was "very unusual" to see such a bird in suburban London, but there is no suggestion of fowl play.

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