animals
birds
beasts
serpents
pigs
chickens
ducks
cattle
dogs
smothsnake
adder
grasssnake
sandlizard
slowworm
lizard
newt
redsquirrel

Topic Index

Medieval Animals, Chickens

Which came first, The Chicken or the egg ?

The breeds and varieties of domestic chickens known today are generally believed to have descended mainly from the Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus bankiva, or Gallus gallus) of Southeast Asia where it still exists in the wild. Domesticated chickens may have been kept in India as long ago as 3,200 B.C., and records indicate they were kept in China and Egypt as early as 1,400 B.C.

There are approximately 170 varieties of chickens grouped into 12 classes and approximately 60 breeds. A class is a group of breeds originating in the same geographical area. The names themselves ? Asiatic, American, Mediterranean, and so on ? indicate the region where the breeds originated.

Breed means a group which possesses a given set of physical features, such as body shape, skin colour, carriage or station, and number of toes. Variety is a category of breed and is based on feather colour, comb, or presence of a beard and muff.

The chicken, a direct descendant of dinosaurs, is the first bird to have its genome mapped, and to the surprise of scientists, it was discovered that chickens and humans share more than half their genes.

The word "chicken" comes from a very specific Old English word ("gechekken"), and it only properly applies to certain fowl of East
Anglia or those descended therefrom. As for the rest, I suppose they are doing something remotely similar to crossing the road.

Birds Beasts Serpents Pigs Chickens Ducks Cattle Dogs Smooth Snake Adder Grass Snake Sand Lizard Slow Worm Viviparous Lizard Newt Red Squirrel