Red Junglefowl

Hello Everyone!

As the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is the second-most commonly identified species here in Key West, it is worth noting the following:

Red Junglefowl are native to Central and Southeast Asia and are the ancestors of domesticated chickens.

The chickens of Key West originate from birds used for cockfighting (can be classified as "gamefowl") and do more closely resemble the wild Junglefowl than other breeds.

In this case, some of the ancestors of Key West's chickens were bred in Cuba as Cubalayas beginning in the 1800s from stock originating in Asia but were then domesticated as they were bred selectively, and interbred with other breeds. They were brought to Key West for cockfighting as well. More interbreeding occurred with other breeds of domestic chickens. Cockfighting was eventually outlawed in the 1970s.

The chickens are now protected by the City -- it is illegal to harass, harm, feed, kill them. In some cases they are relocated to the mainland. The population is quite large and there are some issues with diseases affecting them (especially related to feeding them).

Gallus gallus is reserved specifically for the wild birds still present in Asia and in cases where those birds from Asia have been introduced elsewhere (without a history of domestication). It's worth noting that while domesticated chickens are prolific all over the world, the wild Red Junglefowl are facing many threats in their native habitat.

There was some recent genetic analysis done on Key West's chickens which I have requested an update on. I will post more information as it becomes available!

Based on the above, I will be curating existing records of Red Junglefowl to Domestic Chicken and encourage others to do the same.

If you have any additional information please feel free to share.

Not a lot of great publications on this specifically but here are some resources: