With the amount of chickens my two sons consume every day in name of protein, I was living in mortal fear of being a reason for the potential extinction of this species! So I decided to research more on them and came up with some very interesting facts!
Imagine eating a T-Rex dinosaur! Well, in a way we are doing that now! Birds belong to the Theropod group of dinosaurs which included T-Rex! And the largest and most cherished animal protein in Indian subcontinent (it’s not just my sons!), is the chicken which in turn is a descendant from the Junglefowls! So now my research shifted to these Junglefowls…the forefathers of the primary food source for my family ☺️.
There are 3 types of Junglefowls in Indian subcontinent: The Sri Lankan Junglefowl or the Ceylon Junglefowl or the Lafayette’s Junglefowl which is the national bird of Sri Lanka (top pic in collage). It is a closer relative of Grey Junglefowl or Sonnerats’s Junglefowl (bottom middle in collage) and diverged from it only 1.8 million years ago, whereas it diverged from Red Junglefowl or the Indian Red Jungle Fowl or Bankiva-fowl (bottom left and right) about 2.8 million years ago. God (ok, evolution, for all the non-believers!) in a way was preparing the protein food source just before the arrival of the intelligent humans who would grow to love devouring these descendants of the dinosaurs!
The Grey Junglefowl is actually responsible for the yellow skin of the chicken we consume today! And the cross between Grey Junglefowl and the domestic chicken are known as Bengals! (Have no idea of the basis of this name though…as much as I am aware of the voracious appetite for non-veg food of my friends from the state of Bengal!)
In order to have an abundant supply of this protein for the ever increasing human population, evolution (can’t be God this time!) devised a very interesting and complex social system. Females who are much more drab in appearance (bottom right pic) and the males do not form pair regular bonds; instead, the species has a polygynandrous mating system in which each female will usually mate with several males and likewise the males will have several female mating partners! Often the “male partners” the female mates with are siblings and the lesser of the siblings get second priority after the “alpha” male who leads its “harem” with pride (or is it really a “reverse harem” which the “alpha” is ignorant about!). In fact, the term “pecking order” also comes from the aggressive social hierarchies in the junglefowls, both amongst males and females.
So was God kind enough to have the Junglefowls in Asia only? Not really, knowing the fairness of God! Bones of Junglefowls dating several thousand years ago have been found in Chile too, indicating a migration likelihood of our enterprising Junglefowls through Pacific Ocean!
Lastly, I now can very proudly advise my children how not to be prosecuted for catching wildlife (the Junglefowls) in their pursuit of protein. Simply look if there is a white patch in the base of the tail - if yes, then run away from it (its a Junglefowl); if not, then they don’t really need to “chicken” away!
(Disclaimer: I do not in any way endorse any consumption of chickens, and personally have almost given it up ☺️)
