Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus)

The Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is a tropical member of the Pheasant family. It is thought to be ancestral to the domestic chicken, with some hybridisation with the Grey Junglefowl. The Red Junglefowl was first domesticated at least five thousand years ago in Asia, then taken around the world, and the domestic form is kept globally as a very productive food source of both meat and eggs.
The range of the wild form stretches from Tamil Nadu, South India (where it has almost certainly been diluted with cross breeding from domestic breeds) eastwards across southern China and into Malaysia, The Philippines (where it is locally known as labuyo) and Indonesia. Junglefowl are established on several of the Hawaiian Islands, but these are feral descendents of domestic chickens. They can also be found on Christmas Island and the Marianas.

Male and female birds show very strong sexual dimorphism. Males are much larger; they have large red fleshy wattles and comb on the head and long, bright gold and bronze feathers forming a "shawl" or "cape" over the back of the bird from the neck to the lower back. The tail is composed of long, arching feathers that initially look black but shimmer with blue, purple and green in good light. The female's plumage is typical of this family of birds in being cryptic and having evolved for camouflage as she alone looks after the eggs and chicks. She also has no fleshy wattles or comb on the head.
During their mating season, the male birds announce their presence with the well known "cock-a-doodle-doo" call or crowing. This serves both to attract potential mates and to make other male birds in the area aware of the risk of fighting a breeding competitor. A spur on the lower leg just behind and above the foot serves in such fighting. Their call structure is complex and they have distinctive alarm calls for aerial and ground predators to which others react appropriately.
Males make a food-related display called 'tidbitting', performed upon finding food in the presence of a female.The display is composed of coaxing, cluck-like calls and eye-catching bobbing and twitching motions of the head and neck. During the performance, the male repeatedly picks up and drops the food item with his beak. The display usually ends when the hen takes the food item either from the ground or directly from the male’s beak and is associated with copulations and more offspring. Males that produce anti-predator alarm calls appear to be preferred by females. They are omnivorous and feed on insects, seeds and fruits including those that are cultivated such as those of the oil palm. Flight in these birds is almost purely confined to reaching their roosting areas at sunset in trees or any other high and relatively safe places free from ground predators, and for escape from immediate danger through the day.

Purebred Red Junglefowl are thought to be facing a serious threat of extinction because of hybridization at the edge of forests where domesticated free ranging chickens are common.
Grey Junglefowl (Gallus Sonneratii)


The Grey Junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii), also known as Sonnerat's Junglefowl, is a wild relative of domestic fowl that is endemic to India. This species is found mainly in peninsular India and where it overlaps with the distribution of the Red Junglefowl, it is known to form hybrids. The calls are loud and distinctive and they are hunted for meat and the long neck hackle feathers that are sought after for making fishing lures.

The male has a black cape with ocher spots and the body plumage on a grey ground color is finely patterned. The elongated neck feathers are dark and end in a small, hard, yellowish plate; this peculiar structure making them popular for making high-grade artificial flies. The male has red wattles and combs but not as strongly developed as in the Red Junglefowl. Legs of males are red and have spurs while the yellow legs of females usually lack spurs. The central tail feathers are long and sickle shaped. Males have an eclipse plumage in which they moult their colorful neck feathers in summer during or after the breeding season. The female is duller and has black and white streaking on the underparts and yellow legs. They are found in thickets, on the forest floor and open scrub. Their loud calls of Ku-kayak-kyuk-kyuk can be heard in the early mornings and at dusk. Unlike the Red Junglefowl, the male does not flap its wing before uttering the call. They forage in small mixed or single sex groups. They breed from February to May. They lay 4 to 7 eggs which are pale creamy in a scrape. Eggs hatch in about 21 days. Although mostly seen on the ground, Grey Junglefowl fly into trees to escape predators and to roost. About this sound Call of male (help·info)About this sound Other calls (help·info)About this sound calls (help·info) They feed on grains including bamboo seeds, berries, insects and termites.

Sri Lanka "Ceylon" Junglefowl (Gallus lafayetii)

The Sri Lankan Junglefowl (Gallus lafayetii), also known during the colonial era as the Ceylon Junglefowl, is a member of the Galliformes bird order]] which is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is the national bird. It is closely related to the Red Junglefowl (G. gallus), the wild junglefowl from which the chicken was domesticated.

As with other junglefowl, the Sri Lankan Junglefowl is strongly sexually dimorphic: the male is much larger than the female, with more vivid plumage and a highly exaggerated wattle and comb.

The male Sri Lankan Junglefowl ranges from 66–72 cm (26–28 in) in length[2] and 790–1,140 g (1.7–2.5 lb) in weight, essentially resembling a large, muscular rooster. The male has orange-red body plumage, and dark purple to black wings and tail. The feathers of the mane descending from head to base of spine are golden, and the face has bare red skin and wattles. The comb is red with a yellow centre. As with the Green Junglefowl, the cock does not possess an eclipse plumage.
The female is much smaller, at only 35 cm (14 in) in length and 510–645 g (1.1–1.42 lb) in weight, with dull brown plumage with white patterning on the lower belly and breast, ideal camouflage for a nesting bird.
The Sri Lankan Junglefowl is most closely related to the Grey Junglefowl, though physically the male resembles the Red Junglefowl. Female Sri Lanka Junglefowl are very similar to those of the Grey Junglefowl. Like the Green Junglefowl, Sri Lankan Junglefowl are island species that have evolved side by side with their similarly stranded island predators and competitors. Uniquely complex anti-predator behaviors and foraging strategies are integral components in the long evolutionary story of the Sri Lankan Junglefowl.  As with other junglefowl, Sri Lanka Junglefowl are primarily terrestrial. It spends most of its time foraging for food by scratching the ground for various seeds, fallen fruit and insects.    It lays 2-4 eggs in a nest either on the forest floor in steep hill country or in the abandoned nests of other birds and squirrels. Like the Grey and Green Junglefowl, male Sri Lankan Junglefowl play an active role in nest protection and chick rearing.

The reproductive strategy of this species is best described as facultative polyandry, in that a single female is typically linked with two or three males that form a pride of sorts. These males are likely to be siblings. The female pairs with the alpha male of the pride and nests high off the ground.

Her eggs are highly variable in color but generally are cream with a yellow or pink tint. Purple or brownish spots are common.
Occasionally a female will produce red eggs or blotched eggs.
The hen incubates her eggs, while the alpha male guards her nest from a nearby perch during the nesting season. The beta males remain in close proximity as well guarding the nesting territory from intruders or potential predators, such as rival males, or snakes and mongooses. Sri Lankan Junglefowl are unique amongst the junglefowl in the brevity of their incubation, which may be as short as twenty days as contrasted with the 21–26 days of the Green Junglefowl.
The chicks require a constant diet of live food, usually insects and isopods such as sowbugs and pillbugs. In particular, the juveniles of land crabs are also highly important to the growth and survivability of the juvenile and subadult Sri Lankan Junglefowl. In captivity this species is particularly vulnerable to pulloram and other bacterial diseases common in domestic poultry. The chicks, and to a slightly lesser extent the adults, are incapable of utilizing vegetable-based proteins and fats. Their dietary requirements can not be met with commercial processed food materials. As a result they are exceedingly rare in captivity.


Green Junglefowl (Gallus varius)

The Green Junglefowl, Gallus varius also known as Javan Junglefowl, Forktail or Green Javanese Junglefowl is a medium-sized, up to 75 cm long, bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae.

The coloration of the Green Junglefowl is sexually dichromatic. The male's plumage is dark and blackish at a distance. A closer view will reveal an iridescent mantle of gleaming scales reminiscent in color and pattern to those seen in the Ocellated Turkey and Green Peafowl. Each scale is vivid blue at its base and moves through various shades of gold and bronzed green. Specialized plumes framing the throat of the male Green Junglefowl are highly light reflective and appear violet at the proximal and sky blue at the distal edges. The lesser coverts of the wing are a striking burned orange with bronzed black centers. The distal edges of the greater secondary coverts are vivid ocher.

Like its cousin the Red Junglefowl, the breast and ventral regions are a dense light absorbing black. Like its closer relative the Ceylon Junglefowl, the male Green Junglefowl exhibits vivid 'windows' of bare facial skin that contrasts against the dark scarlet red of the face. The Green Junglefowl exhibits an ice blue center in its comb. A region of electric yellow facial skin extends below each ear, delineating the plumed hackles from gular lappet. Its head is topped by a light blue comb, which turns purple or red towards the top. Its wattle is also of the same color but is bordered with blue on the edges and yellow closer to the throat. The female is mostly brown with occasional green feathers and has no comb.

The Green Junglefowl is endemic to Java, Bali, Lombok, Komodo, Flores, Rinca and small islands linking Java with Flores, Indonesia. It has been introduced to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands where there is a small wild population. It is found from a natural altitude of 0 - 2000 m in subtropical/tropical lowland moist forest, shrubland and arable land.

The Green Junglefowl usually lives in groups of two to five in the wild led by a dominant male, who takes the flock to feed and drink and then back into the cover of the forest. In the night the flock roosts in bamboo stands at 15–20 feet above the forest floor. In the breeding season the dominant males in each flock are challenged by other males without flocks. The two males clap their wings and crow loudly while fighting each other with their spurs.

The Green Junglefowl is being maintained and increasingly bred in captivity as its genetic diversity is disappearing. This is because these birds are bred with domestic chickens by many people, producing a hybrid known as the Bekisar. The Bekisar has become very popular in the East Java province and has become the mascot-bird of the area. Therefore the Green Junglefowl requires more protected conditions than chickens. However, it is known to be able to fly more strongly than chickens,

The captive Green Junglefowl requires warm aviaries with lots of foliage and cover due to their shy nature and are fed with grains and seeds, as well as fruit and insects as these are the same type of food they would feed on in the wild. This bird has also been known for a long time as a pet animal because of its beauty and unique call.

The Green Junglefowl is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
A Little Junglefowl History

All information is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia