peacock psychology

last december, my friend doris and i went to the cincinnati zoo. i got this picture of this beautiful peacock. he was fascinating to watch. when trying to impress the peahens, he would quickly flair his gorgeous spread of brilliantly colored and patterned feathers. he would begin taking deliberate and exaggerated high steps and strut around in a circular path. for all this dramatic fanfare, the peahens seemed rather unimpressed.
a couple minutes later, the peacock found himself with the wild, outlandish flamingo clan. the bigger flamingos extended their thick calloused beaks toward the peacock aggressively, trying to intimidate him into leaving their area. the crazy peacock suddenly fanned out his feathers again, showing the same response he had earlier with the females. if it came to a real showdown, the peacock would be smeared! he was outnumbered 10 to 1!!

i guess it's his default reaction to nearly every stressful stimulus he encounters...

i think i have a point...
oh yes - it's just that i think the peacock is probably insecure when it comes right down to it - and all these pompous displays and fancy rituals are just smokescreens for his deepest fears.

we all do it from time to time.