\n
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Clearly unruffled to be the centre of attention as onlookers peered at them during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in their honour, the new arrivals strutted and pecked around their new home \u2013 a roomy aviary in leafy Ariana Park \u2013 where the global body\u2019s European headquarters is located.<\/p>\n
In addition to the four classic blue peafowl now settling in, a rare, white-feathered male could be seen rubbing wings with his more colourful cousins.<\/p>\n
None has yet been named, but a competition will soon be launched to take suggestions, said UN Geneva Director-General Tatiana Valovaya.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very happy to welcome five new peacocks, four blue, one white in typical United Nations colours: blue and white. And we have created a temporary house for them. They will stay here for the next three months\u2026and then they will be allowed to move freely and enjoy the hospitality of the Ariana Park,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In a sign of the times, demand was high from the many visitors to take selfies with the snow-white peacock, which like his kaleidoscope-blue-tinted friends, is the national bird of India.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Forty-five years ago, the country\u2019s Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, dispatched a breeding pair from Delhi Zoo to UN Geneva, using her own plane.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really a privilege for the Indian mission here to be able to donate five peacocks, \u2018Pavo cristatus\u2019, to [UN Geneva],\u201d said Arindam Bagchi,\u00a0Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the UN.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a tradition of having peacocks here. We have donated in 1981 and are delighted to be able to continue this tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n After a few months\u2019 settling-in, the soon-to-be famous five will be released from their home and allowed to roam freely around the UN Geneva enclosure. There is every hope that they will like their new perch, said Dr Tobias Blaha, Director of Geneva Bioparc zoo, which will oversee their care, alongside UN staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr Blaha, who is also a qualified vet, drove the precious cargo to UN Geneva earlier this week in a specially modified ambulance, complete with resuscitation equipment and other medical devices, to be used in case the animals became stressed.<\/p>\n Perhaps wisely, sniffer dogs were not called upon to inspect the contents of five cardboard boxes clearly labelled \u201clive animals\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a dream habitat for them because they don’t need to be kept in an aviary for a long time,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd they have a lot of old trees, they have shade, they have different kinds of flowers and a lot of grass areas as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the apparent leafy paradise awaiting these stunning specimens of the natural world, local predators including foxes and martens have not been as welcoming as they might in years gone by.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, before today\u2019s showstopping troupe arrived, just one surviving peacock wandered the grounds alone, although it has rarely been seen or heard, despite the bird’s piercing scream.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keeping them all alive will be a challenge, Dr Blaha stressed, as young and inexperienced peacocks are \u201cnot used to living in a big, wide park, (so) they often stay on branches which are not high enough to be protected from foxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we need to observe things\u2026and the higher they sleep, the less the risk is, because foxes don’t climb up trees.\u201d<\/p>\n Assuming that the new arrivals are unflappable in the face of the park\u2019s hunters, the hope is that they will continue to tolerate staff and visitors at UN Geneva in the coming months and years, and that they won\u2019t fight among themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n In return, perhaps there will be an unspoken pledge not to mention our feathery friends\u2019 tendency to loiter around entrances to buildings, window ledges and stairwells, where they unfailingly leave \u201cpresents\u201d which can be walked into the UN\u2019s grand surroundings.<\/p>\n Back at the aviary, there\u2019s an exciting development, although it is hard to tell whether the peacocks\u2019 ears have pricked up at the promise of some new company.<\/p>\n \u201cSince they are all males growing up together\u00a0\u2013\u00a0having hatched this year\u00a0\u2013\u00a0they should establish their place within the group and therefore not run off in the spring, when hormones kick in and there are females on the premises,\u201d said Laetitia\u00a0Menin, Facilities Management\u00a0Officer, UN Geneva.<\/p>\n The tradition of keeping peacocks in the grounds of the United Nations dates back to\u00a0Swiss archaeologist and art collector, Gustave Revilliod, who bequeathed his estate where the UN is now located to the city in 1890.<\/p>\n
\n New arrivals at Geneva’s Palais de Nations, take up residence on 7 August, 2026.<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCall of the wild<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n Two peacocks stand on a patch of grass next to a fence at Ariana Park in the grounds of the UN in Geneva.<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe boys are back in town<\/strong><\/h2>\n