A tale of two species: human and peafowl interactions in human-dominated landscapes influence each other's behaviour

Human perception of wildlife, especially attitude towards bird species may vary from non-violent coexistence to a perception of birds as pests and may be an important factor in population management and conservation practices in urban and semi-urban areas. Based on data collected from survey interviews, we studied the perceptions of local communities in Rajasthan, India towards Indian peafowl. Local communities reported Indian peafowl as crop pest and this perception and crop loss varied across seasons. Despite this, locals have a positive perception of Indian peafowl and regularly offered grains for them. Food provisioning by humans influenced diet composition and time-budget of Indian peafowls. Sites at which food provisioning was less or absent, peafowl spent more time in walking and more than 50% of their diet consisted of natural food. In contrast, at food provisioning sites, time spent in walking was significantly less, while time spent in feeding was significantly more; and over 70% of their diet consisted of provisioned grains. Food provisioning changed the benefit : cost ratio of behaviours between provision and non-provision sites. Thus, perception of wildlife and food provisioning by humans can change feeding ecology of Indian peafowl populations.