Male peacocks, also known as peafowl, are easily recognizable by their vibrant blue or green plumage and long, ornate tail feathers, also known as trains. This long tail is a key feature for courtship displays to attract peahens (female peacocks). The term “peacock” refers to the male bird, while the female is a peahen, and the whole group is called peafowl.
Here is one looking away at Sylvan Heights Bird Park.
Peafowl
The Knob-billed Duck is a large, bicolored waterbird. Both sexes are iridescent purplish-green above with a white or buff breast—a female knob-billed duck at the Sylvan Heights Bird Park. The female is similar to the male but smaller and duller than male, and she lacks the fleshy knob. Her plumage is less glossy.
Knob-billed Duck
Mandarin Ducks, at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, are native to Eastern Asia (Siberia, China, Japan). They were introduced to other parts of the world, including Europe and North America, and some populations established themselves. Mandarin ducks are sexually dimorphic—the males are elaborately colored, while the females have more subdued colors.
Mandarin Duck
Mandarin Ducks
The bull (male) elk are beginning to drop their antlers—a yearly occurrence that happens a few months after breeding season due to a decrease in testosterone.
Antlers drop annually in late winter, typically January through March. The dropped antlers are called “sheds,” and the process does not hurt the buck. From spring to summer, the antlers regrow and are usually larger than the previous year.
Here is one at the North Carolina Zoo.
Elk Looking Up
Elk
The hamadryas also differs from other baboons in its social behaviour. Instead of maintaining a large cohesive troop, hamadryas split during the day into groups consisting of a single male and his “harem” of up to six (or more) females. Unlike most species that live in one-male social units, hamadryas males use aggression both during and after takeovers to condition females to maintain proximity.
This one at the North Carolina Zoo looks pretty aggressive.
Hamadryas Baboon Staring
Spotted two domesticated camels in the leopard terrain in Bera. The ring on the male camel’s nose is to control him, while the female is adorned with decorative marks.
A young male lion focuses on something of interest at Gir National Park, Gujarat, India. Young males are chased out of pride when they are around two years of age and start being sexually mature. These bewildered male lions then head out alone into the wild, getting injured while hunting, falling victim to alpha males in the jungle, or getting caught in snares if they mistakenly venture near the villages along the forest.
There is an abundance of peacocks in Gir National Park. While we did not see a single male with a full display of its colorful plume, the colors of the feathers on these peacocks are still spectacular.
The chital or cheetal, also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. While males weigh 150–200 lb., females weigh around 88–132 lb. Males are larger than females, and antlers are present only on males.They are quite abundant in Gir National Park, India.
Here is a male lion marking his territory in Gir National Park, India. They mark the area with urine, roar menacingly to warn intruders, and chase off animals that encroach on their turf.
A male sambar looks quizzically at the photographer with his tongue sticking out at Tadoba National Park, India.
The sambar is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species. Deer is a group of mammals with more than 60 extant species, whereas Sambar is one particular species of deer with eight subspecies. The male sambar bears long, three-tined (or pronged) antlers. Here are images of the male sambar in Tadoba National Park.
At Brookgreen Gardens, “Triton on Dolphin” by Benjamin Franklin Hawkins depicts a young male figure (a triton) with fins for feet and a stiff crown of hair riding a dolphin.
Riding a Dolphin
“Girl with Dolphin” by Milton Horn has a girl baby riding a dolphin, holding its head with both hands.
Joy of Riding a Dolphin