Red Junglefowl Ancestor of Chicken Living with Singaporeans Today

When I see wildlife and plants during my daily walks, it always makes me happy ❤️ I love all, even big spiders and snakes, just keep a safe distance and avoid accidental contact with them. 

I love seeing "wild chicken", especially the families. I always wondered how they are related to the domesticated chicken we eat everyday, nearly lah. 

Some people think that they are abandoned or escaped kampung chicken. 

Actually, they are red junglefowl, the wild ancestor of our domesticated chicken which we are all familiar with. 

Hybrid junglefowl

Pure breed red junglefowl is endangered in Singapore due to loss of habitat and also interbreeding with domesticated chicken (in the past when there were still chicken farming and keeping in rural Singapore).

The red junglefowl lives in Sumatra, Celebes, Philippines, Malay peninsula, Indochina, south China through to east India. They were domesticated around 2000BC i.e. 4000 years ago. I feel we are lucky that pure breed ancestors of domesticated chicken still roam free today in our highly urbanised country - in parks providing a living connection with our long past. 

A junglefowl family consists of a cockerel, a few hens and their chicks. 

The cockerel protects his hens and chicks. He is a fighter. He has sharp spurs on his feet which he uses to rip his enemy.

The wild cockerel's crow is very similar to his domesticated brother's. If it was a blind or should it be deaf test 🤭 (?), I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. 

The hens look quite similar to domesticated chicken but smaller and leaner. The red junglefowl forage for insect, seeds and fallen fruits. 

The red junglefowl have been culled before by Singapore authorities in response to noise complaints (cockerel crow) and perhaps the assumption that these are abandoned domesticated chicken. 

I hope that these ancient birds are allowed to co-exist with humans in Singapore as they are a living connection with our past. 

These bird's ancestors were here before Sang Nila Utama founded the kingdom of Singapura in 1299. They have seen Singapore through to today. 

Another of my favourites which I encounter regularly in Singapore parks is the beautiful green pigeon. I shall write a story about them next.

Meanwhile, I shall photograph as many pure breed red junglefowl as possible in case the endangered bird becomes extinct in Singapore,

Written by Tony Boey on 3 Feb 2025