Cock-a-Doodle
Bird of the Day Series, Social Media Content
Photo: Zahid Hossain
If you ever muse about the origins of your lunch, it will interest you to know that this is where your chicken came from. It is the Red Junglefowl, found from India to southern China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia. These birds were domesticated 8,000 years ago; about 5,000 years ago, people started migrating to Micronesia and Polynesia, and beyond, and they took three animals with them—dogs, pigs and junglefowl. The birds’ populations, and popularity, spread from there.
This is also where the term ‘pecking order’ comes from. Every Red Junglefowl group has a dominant male, who maintains his status with the help of that claw. The minute he dies, or disappears, he is replaced by the next guy in line. Chicks learn the status of group members at one week of age; at 12 weeks, their mother kicks them out of her group, forcing them to form their own groups, or join others, and then the competition for dominance begins.
That famous ‘Cock-a-Doodle-Doo’ is the call used by the dominant male to tell females that it’s time to mate, and to tell other males to stay away. To seduce a female, the dominant male performs ‘Tidbitting’, in which he bobs and twitches, then repeatedly picks up and drops a piece of food in front of her. When she finally eats it, it’s time to mate.
These birds fly only to reach high roosting areas, or to escape danger. They’re very shy of humans, but they prefer habitats which have been disturbed by people—forests that are regenerating after logging or slash-and-burn cultivation. They eat pretty much whatever’s on the ground; they drink water once in a while, but don’t appear to need much. They like to stay clean, which they do with regular dust baths. Their maximum weight is 4 lbs., and they’re 30” long with an 11” tail and 14 tail feathers. They can live for as long as 30 years.
The Red Junglefowl is not threatened but it is prized for cockfighting, which is illegal for good reason. If you see it, report it.