Chicken

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Chicken
A cock (left) and hen (right) roosting together
Conservation status
Domesticated
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae Genus: Gallus Species: G. gallus
Binomial name
Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Gallus gallus domesticus

The chicken (Gallus gallus, sometimes G. gallus domesticus) is a domesticated fowl which is traditionally believed to have descended from the wild Red Junglefowl found in India (species: Gallus Gallus).^[1] However, some genetic research has suggested that the bird likely descended from both Red and the Grey Junglefowl (G. sonneratii). Although hybrids of both wild types usually tend toward sterility, recent genetic work has revealed that the genotype for yellow skin present in the domestic fowl is not present in what is otherwise its closest kin, the Red Junglefowl. It is deemed most likely, then, that the yellow skin trait in domestic birds originated in the Grey Junglefowl.^[2]

As the species spread domestication occurred throughout multiple sites in Asia—including India where it was used for cock fighting.^[3] From India the domestication of chicken spread throughout Near East, Africa and the Greco-Roman world.^[3]

The chicken is one of the most common and widespread domestic animals. With a population of more than 24 billion in 2003,^[4] there are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, with both their meat and their eggs consumed.