Progressive Pied
"Progressive Pied" is the peafowl community's phrase for a bird with vitiligo, an autoimmune disorder which causes pigment cells in the skin to slowly die off over the life of an animal. In peafowl, the condition also tends to cause blindness early in the life of the bird, but can cause other health problems, as well as early decline and death.
Vitiligo is not contagious and as far as science has determined studying it in other animals (particularly humans), there may be genetic conditions which predispose an animal and its offspring to developing it, however it is not directly 1:1 inheritable the way other peafowl color and pattern mutations are as it takes a combination of genes to predispose the bird. Birds with increasing pigment loss, or birds from parents with this condition, should not be bred forward, for the health of the animals.
When this condition first appeared it was incorrectly labeled as a form of pied, and many believed - and still falsely believe - it is just another leucistic variant rather than an autoimmune disorder. Irresponsible breeding of birds with this disorder have led to its spread through colors outside of its original bronze and cameo origins.
Vitiligo is not contagious and as far as science has determined studying it in other animals (particularly humans), there may be genetic conditions which predispose an animal and its offspring to developing it, however it is not directly 1:1 inheritable the way other peafowl color and pattern mutations are as it takes a combination of genes to predispose the bird. Birds with increasing pigment loss, or birds from parents with this condition, should not be bred forward, for the health of the animals.
When this condition first appeared it was incorrectly labeled as a form of pied, and many believed - and still falsely believe - it is just another leucistic variant rather than an autoimmune disorder. Irresponsible breeding of birds with this disorder have led to its spread through colors outside of its original bronze and cameo origins.