The chicken’s closest wild ancestor is the Red Junglefowl, a bird that lives in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The domesticated chicken’s scientific name, Gallus gallus domesticus, shows how close the birds are in linage — the Red Junglefowl’s name is simply Gallus gallus.
Domestication of the chicken dates back to at least 2000 B. And their ancestry can be traced back to four species of wild jungle fowl from Southeast Asia. However, the Red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus or Gallus bankiva) is the most commonly found wild species in the world today and is considered the main ancestor of the domestic chicken.
Other terms are:’Biddy:’ a newly hatched chicken’ Capon :’ a castrated or neutered male chicken’Chick:’ a young chicken’Chook’ / tʃʊk /: a chicken ( Australia, informal)’ Cockerel :’ a young male chicken less than a year old’Pullet:’ a young female chicken less than a year old. ‘ Yardbird :’ a chicken (southern United States, dialectal).
The chicken is a descendant of the Southeast Asian red jungle fowl first domesticated in India around 2000 B. C. Most of the birds raised for meat in America today are from the Cornish (a British breed) and the White Rock (a breed developed in New England).
Where were chickens first domesticated?
What made this particular paper different were a few things: Sample size. They tested far more birds than previous studies. The mt. DNA sequencing. Previous studies used only one part of the mt. DNA (the “Control Region”) while this study sequenced the entire mt. DNA., and geographic spread. They tested chickens and red junglefowl from many locations.
Where did the term “chick” come from?
The word chick is a short form for chicken and its use in American slang to refer to a young woman is attributed to Sinclair Lewis’ book Elmer Gantry (1927). He had determined that marriage now would cramp his advancement in the church and that, anyway, he didn’t want to marry this brainless little fluffy chick, who would be of no help in impressing rich parishioners.