Study reveals tale of Peacock's fan

Scientists in the US have used eye-tracking cameras to work out exactly what peahens find alluring in a peacock's tail fan.

The male birds grow their trains of iridescent feathers during the mating, or lekking, season, fanning them out and rattling them to attract a mate.

This team of biologists fitted peahens with eye-trackers to find out what they looked at during this display.

Their results are reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Victoria Gill reports.