The steady decline in the number of foxes has helped the proliferation of peafowl in and around Chennimalai and Perundurai, according to the Forest Department.
Foxes snatch eggs from the peahens that build their nests in isolated areas. The nests of peahens are difficult to detect for humans, but foxes get beyond the camouflage of twigs and leaves to take away eggs and young peafowl.
With the decline in the number of foxes, the number of peafowls is growing exponentially, a department official said and explained the reason why peafowl prefer places outside forest areas as their habitat.
Although it was difficult to count them, the rapid rise in their numbers in the Chennimalai-Perundurai-Vijayamangalam-Thingalur belt has become perceptible, the sources in the department said.
Till a decade ago, both fox and peafowl used to be hunted down by Narikurava community.
But with the department tightening the noose, the community members have taken to other vocations, said Babu, local representative of the Tamil Nadu Narikurava Nala Variyam.
Change in landscape
According to Mr. Babu, the disappearance of the foxes has much to do with the drastic change in the landscape around agricultural fields, reflecting in disappearance of thick bushes that used to provide safe cover to foxes. In the absence of predators, the peafowl are having a free run, expanding their habitat to agricultural fields.
