DO PEACOCKS TRAINS ADVERTISE AGE

Manning (1987 and 1989) found a positive correlation between several measured aspects of the male's upper tail coverts and male age in a sample of males measured at several different sites. Here we test whether or not the trains of individuals from the same population increase between years. There is no evidence from the data presented that variation in the degree of train elaboration amongst male peacocks is age-dependent beyond 4 years or that peahens always prefer to mate with older males; one young male in his first year of displaying achieved high mating success and was preferred by several females over other older males present. It therefore appears unlikely that the peacock's train acts as an age-indicator.