Peacock Eyespots

When one thinks of a peacock, the first thing that usually comes to mind is their eye-spotted colorful train of feathers. A single peacock feather has an "eyespot" that seems to serve a controversial function for the bird. Some research has shown that female peahens seemed to be particularly attracted to, and therefore more prone to chose peacocks, with a large number of eyespots on their train of feathers. But more recent research has shown otherwise. For instance Dakin, at the Queen's University in Canada, recently showed evidence that the number of eyespots a peacock had did not actually improve its chances of impressing a peahen. Furthermore, others have hypothesized that perhaps it isn't the number of eyespots a peacock has that illustrates a peacock's success in mating, but actually the size and elaboration of the peacock's train of feathers. In running a number of experiments where Dakin and Montgomerie manipulated the number of eyespots each peacock had by snipping them off, Dakin found through a series of experiments that most peacocks that were "eyespot-challenged" mated significantly less than those who were not. Ultimately, research has not shown to be conclusive in what function feather eyespots serve for peacocks and needs to be further researched in order to fully understand the mechanisms that underlie peacock mate selection.

Sources: Discovery News