Stefhanie Tuyens

The Big Challenge Peacock Stefhanie Tuyens

The shimmering hues of a peacock's feather have been a source of aesthetic and scientific admiration for thousands of years. Unlike most birds, peacocks do not derive their colors purely from pigments, but from a combination of pigments and photonic crystals, which reflect different wavelengths of light depending upon the angle of the light and the spacing of the crystals. This is what causes the iridescent shades of blue, green, brown and yellow commonly found in a peacock's train.