Peacock

• The eyespots on its wings mimic the eyes of a large animal to startle predators.
• Its scientific name, io, honours a priestess of Greek mythology.
• It lays as many as 500 eggs in large clusters on nettle leaves.
• It has two defences in sequence. With its wings closed it looks like an almost-black dead leaf and goes unnoticed; if that fails and a bird approaches, it snaps them open and displays four enormous eyespots that mimic vertebrate eyes.
• And it adds sound: as it opens and closes its wings it produces an audible hiss by rubbing the veins together, which heightens the startle effect. Experiments with tits and flycatchers have shown that individuals that deploy their eyespots and hiss escape far more often than those that only rely on camouflage.
• It overwinters as an adult, often inside houses, garages and sheds, and reappears on the first sunny days of late winter.
• Linnaeus was already citing it in 1748 under the name oculus pavonis, the peacock's eye.
• The caterpillar is black and spiny and lives in groups on nettles.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Woodland, gardens, parks and meadows of Europe and temperate Asia as far as Japan

Birth weight

Olive-green eggs laid in large clusters

Size at birth

A velvety black larva with branched spines, growing to several centimetres

Sexual maturity

Reached after complete metamorphosis (no fixed age applies)

Gestation / incubation

Egg: 1-2 weeks | Larva: 3-4 weeks | Pupa: 2-4 weeks

Litter / clutch size

Up to 500 eggs laid in large clusters on nettle leaves

Sources consulted: Animal Diversity Web; Woodland Trust; Butterfly Identification; First-Nature; Typesofbutterflies; Pesky Little Critters; Butterfly Notes blog; Grokipedia; Spiderzoon