Peacocks Originating in California!

 

As far as we have known, peafowl have originated in Asia and India, with some species coming from Indonesia. But did you know that in 1909, a specimen of peacock was found in the asphalt beds at Rancho La Brea, near Los Angeles? This would be a fossil peacock, Pavo californicus, n. sp. It was found at the University of California collecting locality no. 1059, three feet below the surface, where it was covered by layers containing the characteristic extinct Quaternary mammalian forms of these beds. Other specimens have been found at several places and at varying depths in the asphalt of Rancho La Brea.

In addition to characters held in common with the existing peafowl, pavo californicus shows tarsus much shorter than existing peafowl, stouter and more robust, with spurs a little shorter than P. muticus, and differences in toes. Compared to Pavo cristatus, californicus has longer tarsus, and spurs are higher.

This information was published in the University of California Publications Bulletin of the Department of Geology, Vol. 5, No. 19 pp. 285-289, August 14, 1909, and Vol. 9 No. 7, pp. 89-96, March 10, 1916, written by Loye Holmes Miller. The two articles describe in depth the differences between existing peafowl and the fossil peacock, Pavo californicus.

 

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