High-speed video reveals secret behind peacock mating display - Action News
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High-speed video reveals secret behind peacock mating display

Biologists have known for some time that peacocks use their shimmery, iridescent feathers to woo partners (known as peahens) but they now have a better idea of what the frenzied feather shaking looks like to potential mates.

Micro-hooks help keep peacock eyespots stationary during elaborate rattling of feathers

Biologists have a slightly better understanding of how peacocks managed to attract mates with their rattling tail feathers. (The Associated Press/Camden Courier-Post, Jose F. Moreno)

Biologists have known for some time that peacocks use their shimmery, iridescent feathers to woo partners(known aspeahens) but they now have a better idea of what the frenzied feather shaking looks like to potential mates.

University of Manitoba biologist JamesHarestudies animal behaviour and communication and has had his eyes on the free-roamingpeacocks at Assinboine Park Zoo for a few years now.

"When I started watchingpeacocksat the zoo, I could see kind of like a standing wave set up in their train as theydisplayed.You could see the oscillationsof the train itself," Hare said.

Hare andU of M graduate studentAngela Freeman previously discovered peacocks emit a deep rumble from those shaking "train"feathersduringcourtship displays that is inaudible to the human ear.

Hare said some work suggests the birds are hearing the sound, but it's also possible they're feeling the bass.

"When you get low frequencies, you can actually feel the rumbling,"Hare said.

In a study published Wednesday, University of British Columbia biologistRoslyn Dakin,HaverfordCollege physicistSuzanne Amador Kane,Hare and others built on those findings andsay they've figured out what roletinyspecialized feathers play in the elaborate fanning and rumble.

Researchers recorded the low frequency sounds and played them back to the birds using a heavy duty subwoofer.Bothpeacocksand peahens responded to the sounds, Hare said.

They filmed the experimentusing high-speed video, and when they reviewed the tape, found out more about how those mesmerizing eyespots manage to stay remarkably still amid thewave of feathers, which vibrateat a rate of 25 times per second.

The eyespotsareareas of great density in the train, where smallbarbules (a filament that extends out of a feather)are linked together with micro-hooks, Hare said. Those roughly 130 eyespotsor "nodes" are held together tightly and enhance the sound and sight of the display.

"The eyespots appear to remain motionless against this background of a shimmering feather mass," Hare said.

Understanding the basic bio-mechanics of the display could lead to further research on how the"signal characteristics influence female choice of males," Hare added.

"Now we know there's a lot more to it more than meets the eye."


FollowBryce Hoye on Twitteror send your sciencystory ideas tobryce.hoye@cbc.ca.

With files from CBC's Marcy Markusa and Leif Larsen