[1] Dr. James P. Chapin of the New York Zoological Society on an unsuccessful African expedition in search of the Okapi noticed that the native Congolese headdresses contained long reddish-brown feathers that he could not identify with any previously known species of bird.

In 1934, Chapin visited the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren and saw two stuffed specimens with similar feathers labeled as the 'Indian peacock' which he later discovered to be the Congo peafowl, a completely different species.

Though much less impressive than his Asiatic cousins, the male's feathers are nevertheless deep blue with a metallic green and violet tinge.

Both sexes resemble immature Asian peafowl, with early stuffed birds being erroneously classified as such before they were officially designated as members of a unique species.

In Salonga National Park, its diet includes fruits from Allanblackia floribunda, junglesop, Canarium schweinfurthii, oil palm, Klainedoxa gabonensis, African breadfruit, and Xylopia aethiopica and a multitude of insects, spiders, mollusks and worms.

[citation needed] The Congo peafowl is threatened by habitat loss caused by mining, shifting cultivation and logging.