Guest blog Hans Krudde: Evolution of the chicken; the chicken or the egg?
For hundreds of millions of years before chickens existed, there were already animals that laid eggs as a way to reproduce; fish, reptiles, and amphibians. So eggs were already present. It is suspected that at some point in that prehistory, two bird-like creatures mated, and that the combination of their genes, possibly accompanied by a genetic mutation that occurred in the egg, produced the first chick. The genetic makeup of this chick was so different from both parent animals that it constituted a new species; the gallus gallus, or... the chicken!
Chicken talk
16 February '23 • 1 min reading time
Bird-like Dino
But now we are missing a step in the emergence of chickens, because how did 'bird-like creatures' come about that, unlike other egg-layers, laid eggs with a hard shell? From Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, we learn that these bird-like creatures descended from reptiles. These were small carnivorous dinosaurs that already walked on two legs and gradually developed feathers and later wings. This theory is supported by findings of fossils of creatures that possessed both reptilian and avian characteristics. The archaeopteryx must have fluttered around about 150 million years ago with feathered wings, a long tail, a beak with teeth, and legs that suspiciously resemble chicken legs. Scientists assume that the archaeopteryx evolved into various bird species. However, a massive meteorite impact on Earth not only marked the end of all dinosaurs but also of all flying birds. After the impact, the Earth was largely devastated, and the thick ash clouds in the atmosphere blocked sunlight for centuries, causing trees and other vegetation to disappear. Animal species that already lived on the ground at that time were able to adapt to this situation, including the ancestors of the chicken.
Red Junglefowl
And thus we have arrived at the red junglefowl in Asia, which are considered the ancestral chickens. Recent DNA research shows that of the various red junglefowl species, only one Thai subspecies of the Bankiva fowl is the ancestor of all our chicken breeds, whether it be a Silkie, a Brahma, or a Naked Neck. But more about the different breeds in a subsequent blog.
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