Chicken
According to ancient Chinese texts, the chicken or common fowl came to China around 1400 BCE; it is one of the first domesticated animals mentioned in writing. Most geneticists think that the ancestor of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus), the red jungle fowl (also Gallus gallus), was first domesticated in South Asia, in present-day Vietnam and Thailand, perhaps as early as the sixth millennium BCE. Red jungle fowl still flourish in the wild in southern Asia from Kashmir east to Sumatra, living in the teak forests and in the Himalayas as high as 2,000 meters; thus they are a rare example of a domesticated animal's wild ancestor still being alive today. Red jungle fowl are about 65 centimeters long and are often seen feeding in forest clearings, usually one cock with several hens; each hen may have five to six chicks.
In Southeast Asia, domestic chickens are valued not only for their flesh and eggs, but for the fighting proclivities of cocks. In Indonesia and nearby lands, fighting cocks provide a major sport for the inhabitants.
Chickens were probably not seen in Greece until around 600 BCE; nowadays, the animals are common around the world. In Roman religion, the bird was sacred to Mars, the god of war, and to many ancient peoples cocks symbolized courage. In Christianity, the cock's crow signifies the resurrection of Christ.
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