Growing incidents of peafowl deaths in farms across Tamil Nadu, mostly due to poisoning, have raised the need for a detailed population study of the birds.
The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), regarded as the national bird, is listed under Schedule-I of the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2022, with the highest degree of protection.
Preliminary observations from an ongoing research at the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology (SACON) in Coimbatore suggest that the population of peafowls has increased exponentially across Tamil Nadu in the last five to 10 years. The questionnaire survey sought to address the possible reasons for the population rise and whether conflict has increased. S. Babu, senior scientist at SACON, says while the results are still being analysed, a few hypotheses have emerged.
