![In just 100 years, peacocks have gone from an introduced species to a Launceston icon. Pictures by Rod Thompson, supplied In just 100 years, peacocks have gone from an introduced species to a Launceston icon. Pictures by Rod Thompson, supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/e98514ad-b062-40d4-8d14-cab4dd5e3ee3.jpg/r0_0_2400_1349_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
They're the unsung heroes of Cataract Gorge, only they're pretty noisy about it.
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Peacocks. For an introduced species, they've really made themselves at home in Launceston.
We love them, visitors love them - but what do we really know about them?
We chatted to two Tassie bird experts to get the lowdown on what these flamboyant fowls are all about.
THEY'RE NOT ALL PEACOCKS
First things first - they're not all peacocks.
The peacocks are just the boy ones with the fancy feathers.
The females are called peahens, the babies peachicks, and the species peafowls.
The hearty winter lunch option is called pea and ham soup, but that's neither here nor there.
HERE FOR 100 YEARS
They've been at the Gorge for ages, but not forever.
Peafowls were introduced in Launceston between 1894 and 1901, along with a lot of equally fancy European plants.
Most people prefer the peafowls, but the plants are nice as well.
YOU CAN BUY THEM AS PETS
That's right, if you've got $100 and a Gumtree account you can have your own peacock.
But you may want to flag it with your neighbours first.
"They're classed as domestic fowls, so it's the same as keeping a chicken or a duck," Tasmania Zoo zookeeper Riley Lowe said.
"But I wouldn't recommend them for suburban backyards - they do call out and they're really noisy.
"It'd be the same as having a rooster in your backyard - it's not ideal for suburbia."
![The babies are called peachicks. Picture by Rod Thompson The babies are called peachicks. Picture by Rod Thompson](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/566d59ba-1c02-4dde-b7aa-59c70e16e697.jpg/r0_153_3438_2086_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THEY LOVE KING ISLAND
The island above Tasmania's North-West tip is packed with peafowls.
But how did they get there?
A 1935 article in The Advocate tells us that a pair of birds were gifted to a Currie resident in about 1915.
Twenty years later, the wild population had grown to about 300. Now, there's heaps.
Tasmanian bird ecologist Eric Woehler said peacocks occupied many small islands off the coast of Tasmania.
"I suspect they were put in as a combination of a game species and an additional source of food on these isolated islands," he said.
"There's an awful lot of protein walking around.
"The same thing on Three Hummock [Island] and some of the Furneaux Group, almost certainly the rationale would have been supply of food if there were ever sailors shipwrecked, or just for the resident population of people."
![The fan-shaped feathers on a peafowl's head is called a crest. File picture The fan-shaped feathers on a peafowl's head is called a crest. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/7ac23f99-71f1-4497-a5ee-7bfe1260e1e0.jpg/r0_0_3904_4880_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THEY CAN FLY
That's right.
They're not eagles or anything but it's pretty impressive considering they've got a bit going on at the back.
Peafowls top out at about 100-metre distances (1.5 Alexandra Suspension Bridges in Gorge measurement) and won't often venture more than 2.5 metres off the ground (about the height of the Gorge restaurant).
THEY'RE REAL STINKY
Peacocks have a lot going for them.
They're ridiculously attractive, they've got an endearing neck jut when they walk, and they get to doze in the shade every day at lunch time.
But nobody's got it all together.
"Peacocks have one of the worst-smelling poos you can imagine," Mr Lowe said.
"If you step in it you'll know about it, you'll smell like that for the whole day - peacocks are real stinky.
"It's disgusting - I'd rather pick up lion poo than go around picking up peacock poo."
![A peacock goes full stunner at Cataract Gorge. File picture A peacock goes full stunner at Cataract Gorge. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/a52f40e4-7356-4461-a687-d3004a265aa0.jpg/r0_0_4583_2577_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THEY'RE PARTIAL TO WANDERING
You've probably heard the odd story about peacocks turning up at industrial sites or people's front door in Newstead.
Mr Lowe said this typically happens when people keep peafowls as pets without due consideration to male-female ratios.
"If you have too many boys, the boys will go wandering off for a girl," he said.
"They do tend to wander and that's where people do have stories of peacocks randomly showing up somewhere."
![A peacock sheds its feathers every year. File picture A peacock sheds its feathers every year. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/66225c0e-fd42-4ebe-aa9f-0dc4de49fa3b.jpg/r0_0_5504_8256_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THOSE FEATHERS ARE NEW
Peacocks are always going next level.
At the end of each breeding season, they shed their old feathers to grow even better ones the next year round.
"Coming into breeding season they get a whole bunch of new feathers so they're looking their best for the females," Mr Lowe said.
But a peacock's tail has more uses than just attracting peahens (and humans).
"It also can be used to intimidate predators," Mr Lowe said.
"The circles on the ends of their tail feathers kind of look like eyes - like they've got 100 eyes staring back at you."
![Being a peacock is thirsty work. File picture Being a peacock is thirsty work. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/b1232d3b-6582-4022-bf53-a32a38d68fcf.jpg/r0_0_4928_3280_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THEY YELL OUT WHEN THE RAIN'S A COMIN'
Well, maybe.
If it is true that peacocks call out to each other in the lead-up to wet weather, neither Mr Woehler nor Mr Lowe have heard of it.
"I suspect that's likely to be an urban myth - it's hard to imagine how that would help them at all," Mr Woehler said.
"It's a sort of urban myth that's up there with black cockatoos turning up and the number of cockatoos tells you the number of rainy days you're going to get."
![At the end of the day, there's nothing left to do but find a good branch to sleep on. File picture At the end of the day, there's nothing left to do but find a good branch to sleep on. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/4498141c-3d54-4f78-ac6e-ae94610727bd.jpg/r0_0_3167_2118_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THEY SLEEP IN TREES
The best time to be in the Gorge is at dusk, when scores of peacocks will queue up to roost in a huge tree near the band rotunda.
Using a nearby sign as a stopover between the ground and the branches, they settle in for a 14-hour snooze.
Tough life, being a peacock.