Peacocks are the male members of the peafowl species -- females are called peahens and babies are peachicks. The Congo peacock is not studied as extensively as the Indian peacock, also known as the blue peacock, or the green peacock, due to their shyness and inaccessible habitat location in the depths of the central African rain forest.

The Congo peacock doesn't share the majestic train of plumage that is the trademark of the blue and green peacock species, but they are just as colorful and display an impressive tail fan during mating rituals. Males are distinguished by dark bronze-green upperparts and black underparts, a conspicuous crest of short, dense black and white bristles, a featherless red throat, a gray bill, gray feet and a long spur known as a metatarsal thorn on each leg, common to males in the Galliforme order and used in intraspecific fights. Their wing-coverts are violet-blue as well as their breast and the end of their tail feathers. Males are between 25 and 27 inches in length, and the slightly smaller peahens are rusty-brown with glossy, metallic emerald-green upperparts and a short russet crest.