The red junglefowl is the primary ancestor to today's domesticated breeds of chicken. Molecular evidence indicates the domestication event occurred about 8,000 years ago from multiple maternal origins. The Sri Lankan junglefowl, which I've previously posted on, the gray junglefowl and the Javanese green junglefowl also contributed genetic material to the modern chicken gene pool.
There are five subspecies of the red junglefowl. Gallus gallus spadiceus is found from northeastern India to south China, Malay Peninsula and north Sumatra. This is the subspecies I saw in Kaziranga NP in Assam, India in December 2024. We saw quite a few of them on the grounds at Diphlu Lodge where we stayed and also a few out on the range, but I'm so inured into thinking of them as domestic chickens I had a hard time getting excited about them and have only one photo, of a male, even though they are absolutely gorgeous. I also saw females.
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| Illustration of G. g. spadiceus from Birds of the World. |
I also saw some in Singapore, on the Malay Peninsula, at the Singapore Botanical Garden in June 2023. They should also be G. g. spadiceus, but they appear to have been G. g. gallus, which is found in south Myanmar through Indochina. I got many more photos of them.
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| Illustration of G. g. gallus, female, from Birds of the World. An illustration of the male is below. |
Here is the range of the red junglefowl from Birds of the World.
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