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| Afropavo congensis Chapin, 1936 |
The Congo Peafowl, Afropavo congensis is a species of peafowl. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Afropavo. The male is a large bird, up to 70cm long, deep blue with a metallic green and violet tinge. It has bare red neck skin, grey feet, a black tail with fourteen feathers and the head adorned with vertical white elongated hair-like feathers on its crown. The female is generally a chestnut brown bird with black abdomen, metallic green back and a short chestnut brown crest. Both sexes resemble immature Asian Peafowl, with early stuffed birds being erroneously classified as such before they were officially discovered as a species. It inhabits and is endemic to lowland rainforests of Congo River Basin in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. The diet consists mainly of fruits and invertebrates. The male has a similar display to other peacocks, fanning its tail in this case, while other peacocks fan their upper tail coverts. Male is monogamous, though information from the wild needed. Very little is known about this species, seeing as it was first recorded as a species in 1936 by Dr. James Chapin based on two stuffed specimens at Congo Museum in Belgium. It has characteristics of both the peafowl and the guineafowl, which may indicate that the Congo Peafowl is a link between the two families. Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size and hunting in some areas, the Congo Peafowl is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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Gallery
 Male |
 Female at the Milwaukee County Zoological Gardens |
See also
References
- BirdLife International (2006). Afropavo congensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is vulnerable
External links
- www.peafowl-farm.com Privat peacock site
- ARKive - images and movies of the Congo Peafowl (Afropavo congensis)
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- gbwf.org - Congo Peafowl (Afropavo congensis)
- IUCN Red List
- Kimball, R.T, Braun, E.L. and J. D. Ligon (1997) Resolution of the phylogenetic position of the Congo peafowl, Afropavo congensis: a biogeographic and evolutionary enigma. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264:1517-1523
- The Cryptid Zoo: African Peacocks
