Some people say that the domestic chickens are the real chickens, but deep down we all know that red junglefowls are. Haven’t heard of a red junglefowl? Well to simplify, junglefowls are the original type of chickens that were not domesticated, nor gene edited. This unique creature still preserves its natural feather colours and authentic body shape in comparison with their new brother in the Phasianidae family, the domestic chicken. Domestic chickens are now recognized as the initial chicken because there is a great distance of difference between the domestic chicken’s population and the red junglefowl’s population. People are more presumably to meet a domestic chicken rather than a junglefowl so the difference and similarities between them are not widely known. This essay will clearly and descriptively compare the red junglefowl and the domestic chicken to seek the sameness and diversity of these two members of the Aves class.
There are many similarities and minor differences of a red junglefowl’s and a domestic chicken’s taxonomy. Both are clearly animals which signifies that they’re citizens of the Animalia Kingdom. A red junglefowl as well as a domestic chicken possesses the same phylum and subphylum, Chordata and Vertebrata. These fine fellows are students of the Aves class just as their order which is the Galliformes. Domestic chickens and red junglefowls are siblings with partridges, peacocks, pheasants, and quails in the Phasianidae family. On the other hand, their genus is slightly different from each other. A red junglefowl’s genus is Gallus Brisson but a domestic chicken’s is Gallus. Domestic chickens are listed as part of the G. Domesticus species, however a red junglefowl’s species is G. Gallus. Red junglefowls and domestic chickens are like twins in terms of their kingdom, phylum, subphylum, class, and family, but are like strangers in their genus and species.
Other than taxonomy, we can compare & contrast red junglefowls and domestic chickens using their body appearance. A male red junglefowl owns a red pudgy single-typed comb on the top of the head, two light red flexible wattles located on the left and right side of the bill, and golden-coloured hackles (feathers) around the neck. They also have dark green coloured feathers acting as the tail of the red junglefowl, black and blue feathers layering the bottom part of the chicken, with grey coloured clawed toes, and too add, a very sharp spur on the backside of the leg! The body looks like a small torpedo but with a ticker back, its height is 76 centimetres (30 in) as tall as a large-sized luggage. Whereas male domestic chickens have the same body features, but their collection of feathers are not as rich and colourful as the junglefowl, it is composed mostly by black, white, and brown. They are bigger in size, but their height is less than 70 cm (27.6 in) or as tall as a one-year-old infant. The body is way plumper and meaty compared to their older brother, the red junglefowl.
Even though it is named a “red” junglefowl, female red junglefowls not at all have red feathers. Their feather is darker and compose of dark pink on the face, dark yellow as the neck feathers, greyish brown for the main feathers, and black feathers at the backside. Female red junglefowls are the negative (in terms of color) opposite of the male red junglefowls. Their height is 43.1 cm (17 in) as tall as a cabin luggage. They possess a sharp mini-sized silver or no comb on the head and two thin wattles. A female domestic chicken has similar feathers and features with a female red junglefowl; however, the main body feathers are brown or white in color. Female red junglefowls have these feathers to camouflage with their habitat and surrounding to hide from merciless predators.
Female red junglefowls try to camouflage with their natural habitat, which is forests and scrublands, but they love hanging around near field edges. The red junglefowl civilization begun in the lands of India and Southeast Asia including Myanmar, Thailand, the Malay peninsula, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the Western Indonesian archipelago. Domestic chickens started to emerge in South Asia then domesticated around the globe as food stock or pets. Since they were domesticated, their new habitats are farms and backyards.
Thus, we have reached the concluding paragraph of this essay. Let’s recap, both red junglefowls and domestic chickens have the same kingdom (Animalia), phylum (Chordata), class (Aves), and family (Phasianidae) but have different genus and species. Which is the Gallus Brisson and G. Gallus for a red junglefowl, Gallus and G. Domesticus for a domestic chicken. A red junglefowl’s feathers are richer in color compared to their younger brother, but they are similar in height which is around 70 cm (27.6 in). The domestic chicken is way meatier in converse with a red junglefowl. Red junglefowls firstly exist in the Indian sub-continent and Southeast Asia, domestic chickens started to exist in around South Asia as well but then domesticated around the world. Red junglefowls live in forests and scrublands while the domestic chicken’s habitat is farms and backyards due to global domestication. All these facts have concluded that even with many similarities, red junglefowls and domestic chickens will always be different animals, and that will never change.
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Red Junglefowl
Written by Edward, grade 7
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