Rob,
No.
Apart from being birds. As in the most recent common ancestor would be
an early bird (early in geological time, not circadian). The peacock is
just an ordinary pheasant although a rather large one (same family as
chickens etc) and the lyrebird is a passerine.
They really have very little in common, other than being birds with a
polygamous mating system (there are many other such birds) and a few
consequences of that. The lyrebird has a specialised tail, the tail of a
peacock is very ordinary for a bird (even less remarkable as a pheasant,
many of which have elaborate tails). The train of a peacock is made up
of the lower back feathers (no bird has as many tail feathers as the
peacock has in its rump as a false train). It is really obvious from
behind that the male peacock in display uses its tail to support the
weight of its train.
Peacock's call is very simple and uninteresting, just a loud wailing
sound. The lyrebird has very advanced vocal abilities.
Peahens raise many chicks at one go (like most chickens, and the chicks
are active at hatching). Lyrebirds females raise only one young at a
time and it is raised in a nest.
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah ACT 2902
02 - 62314041
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Geraghty
Sent: Monday, 12 October 2009 1:15 PM
To: Canberrabirds
Subject: Speaking of peacocks
(sorry I don't have any peacock feathers)
I was wondering if the Lyrebird bears any relationship to the peacock?
I think it's simply a case of convergent evelotion but it never occurred
to me to wonder if there may be a genetic relationship.
Rob
=======
Rob Geraghty
*******************************************************************************************************
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra
Ornithologists Group.
List-Post: <>
List-Help: <>
List-Unsubscribe: <>
List-Subscribe: <>
List archive: <http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds>
List manager: David McDonald, email
<>
|
