Three Peafowl in Green Rice Paddy

Fowl party

Did you know there's no such thing as a female peacock? What we're seeing here is a trio of peahens—the term for ladies of the peafowl family. Lacking the fancy tail feathers boasted by males, peahens spend plenty of time on the prowl for peacocks' eye-popping posterior plumage, the males' main signal for attracting mates. Why so besotted with bodacious booty feathers? Some biologists say it's just an affinity for pretty colors, while others cite the handicap principle: the idea that toting long trails of feathers is so burdensome, only the fittest birds manage to survive with them. Either way, let's hope this peahen posse knows how to pick 'em.