Have any of you ever seen "domestic" peafowl in zoos? When I say domestic peafowl I mean those that are not of the normal blue plumage seen in wild birds, but birds like white ones? I've only ever seen the standard blue ones in zoos myself. Do zoos even promote the breeding of birds like that?
By definition, even the wild coloured birds are "domestic", in the sense of being many, many generations captive bred, less prone to wandering and winter hardier than their truly wild relatives. However, I find that mutation birds do semi-regularly pop up in zoos. The most common are male "black shoulders", as they are very similar to wild type males, just with black wing coverts instead of barred. The females are a very stark cream color with black speckling, and far less common. I have also seen white in a couple of collections, and I think a pied or two if I can recall. As a general rule the "fancier" the institution, the less likely you are to find mutation birds. On the whole though, blue peafowl on display in zoos are acquired from private sources and are not bred at all. The only breeding program in North America, at least, is for the java green peafowl.
Are the Black-shouldered just a mutation of the Common Blue Peafowl? I've often seen the females of both types in Zoos with Peafowl and wonder if both types can occurr in the same brood. I think some Zoos have made efforts to 'weed out' anything apart from the pure common blue in their collections, its one way of selectively culling them which is often necessary to keep numbers in check. The least attractive IMO are the pieds.
Interesting to know the other colors are present. I think the pied variety is pretty. The one that I also think is pretty is the Buford bronze.
I've seen white peafowl at several places. They regularly pop up at the smaller Danish zoos/bird parks. On top of my head, they also keep them at Reserve Africaine de Sigean and Parc Merveilleux.
Brookfield has whites and I believe pieds - it definitely has pied peahens. Blue peafowl are a common species and not endangered so I don't believe zoos usually have any opposition toward exhibiting mutations of them. Blue peafowl at the vast majority of zoos seem to be kept as ambient free-range animals and not specifically exhibited anyway.
