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152-444: Poultry ( / ˈ p oʊ l t r i / ) are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat , eggs or feathers . The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming . These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae ( fowl ), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens , quails , and turkeys ). The term also includes waterfowls of

304-631: A capon , has more tender and flavorful meat, as well. A bantam is a small variety of domestic chicken, either a miniature version of a member of a standard breed , or a "true bantam" with no larger counterpart. The name derives from the town of Bantam in Java where European sailors bought the local small chickens for their shipboard supplies. Bantams may be a quarter to a third of the size of standard birds and lay similarly small eggs. They are kept by small-holders and hobbyists for egg production, use as broody hens, ornamental purposes, and showing. Cockfighting

456-413: A courtship ritual. The functions of the elaborate iridescent coloration and large "train" of peacocks have been the subject of extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested that they served to attract females, and the showy features of the males had evolved by sexual selection . More recently, Amotz Zahavi proposed in his handicap principle that these features acted as honest signals of

608-420: A "broad" definition: "a coevolutionary process that arises from a mutualism, in which one species (the domesticator) constructs an environment where it actively manages both the survival and reproduction of another species (the domesticate) in order to provide the former with resources and/or services." He comments that this adds niche construction to the activities of the domesticator. Domestication syndrome

760-506: A "train". The peacock train consists not of tail quill feathers but highly elongated upper tail coverts. These feathers are marked with eyespots, best seen when a peacock fans his tail. All species have a crest atop the head. The Indian peahen has a mixture of dull grey, brown, and green in her plumage. The female also displays her plumage to ward off female competition or signal danger to her young. Male green peafowls ( Pavo muticus ) have green and bronze or gold plumage, and black wings with

912-539: A 94% share of the 2.6 million tonne global market. Global egg production was expected to reach 65.5 million tonnes in 2013, surpassing all previous years. Between 2000 and 2010, egg production was growing globally at around 2% per year, but since then growth has slowed down to nearer 1%. In 2018, egg production reached 76.7 million tonnes, a huge 24% growth since 2008. Poultry is available fresh or frozen, as whole birds or as joints (cuts), bone-in or deboned, seasoned in various ways, raw or ready cooked. The meatiest parts of

1064-456: A bird are the flight muscles on its chest, called "breast" meat, and the walking muscles on the legs , called the "thigh" and "drumstick". The wings are also eaten ( Buffalo wings are a popular example in the United States) and may be split into three segments, the meatier "drumette", the "wingette" (also called the "flat"), and the wing tip (also called the "flapper"). In Japan, the wing

1216-460: A broody hen, because when raised in this way, the ducks "lay aside their wild nature and without hesitation breed when shut up in the bird pen". Despite this, ducks did not appear in agricultural texts in Western Europe until about 810 AD, when they began to be mentioned alongside geese, chickens, and peafowl as being used for rental payments made by tenants to landowners. It is widely agreed that

1368-481: A complete lack of melanin , resulting in irises that look red or pink. Leucistic peachicks are born yellow and become fully white as they mature. The black-shouldered or Japanned mutation was initially considered as a subspecies of the Indian peafowl ( P. c. nigripennis ) (or even a separate species ( P. nigripennis )) and was a topic of some interest during Darwin's time. Others had doubts about its taxonomic status, but

1520-468: A courtship display, the visiting female peahen will stop directly in front of the male peacock, thus providing her with the ability to assess the male at 90° to the surface of the feather. Then, the male will turn and display his feathers about 45° to the right of the sun's azimuth which allows the sunlight to accentuate the iridescence of his train. If the female chooses to interact with the male, he will then turn to face her and shiver his train so as to begin

1672-401: A fenced yard and poultry house at a higher stocking rate. Poultry can also be kept in a barn system, with no access to the open air, but with the ability to move around freely inside the building. The most intensive system for egg-laying chickens is battery cages , often set in multiple tiers. In these, several birds share a small cage which restricts their ability to move around and behave in

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1824-854: A few have been domesticated, including squid , cuttlefish and octopus , all used in research on behaviour and neurology . Terrestrial snails in the genera Helix are raised for food. Several parasitic or parasitoidal insects, including the fly Eucelatoria , the beetle Chrysolina , and the wasp Aphytis are raised for biological control. Conscious or unconscious artificial selection has many effects on species under domestication; variability can readily be lost by inbreeding, selection against undesired traits, or genetic drift, while in Drosophila , variability in eclosion time (when adults emerge) has increased. Humans foraged for wild cereals, seeds, and nuts thousands of years before they were domesticated; wild wheat and barley, for example, were gathered in

1976-550: A genetic condition called leucism , which causes pigment cells to fail to migrate from the neural crest during development. Leucistic peafowl can produce pigment but not deposit the pigment to their feathers, resulting in a blue-grey eye colour and the complete lack of colouration in their plumage. Pied peafowl are affected by partial leucism, where only some pigment cells fail to migrate, resulting in birds that have colour but also have patches absent of all colour; they, too, have blue-grey eyes. By contrast, true albino peafowl would have

2128-454: A lack of estrogen from old or damaged ovaries, and that male plumage and calls are the default unless hormonally suppressed. As with many birds, vibrant iridescent plumage colors are not primarily pigments , but structural coloration . Optical interference Bragg reflections , based on regular, periodic nanostructures of the barbules (fiber-like components) of the feathers, produce the peacock's colors. 2D photonic-crystal structures within

2280-606: A larger scale, and modern high-output poultry farms were present in the United Kingdom from around 1920 and became established in the United States soon after the Second World War . By the mid-20th century, the poultry meat-producing industry was of greater importance than the egg-laying industry. Poultry breeding has produced breeds and strains to fulfil different needs; light-framed, egg-laying birds that can produce 300 eggs

2432-414: A long, straddling gait. They roost in trees and forage on the ground, feeding on seeds, nuts, berries, grass, foliage, invertebrates, lizards, and small snakes. The modern domesticated turkey is descended from one of six subspecies of wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) found in the present Mexican states of Jalisco , Guerrero and Veracruz . Pre-Aztec tribes in south-central Mexico first domesticated

2584-522: A low proportion of fat. All poultry meat should be properly handled and sufficiently cooked in order to reduce the risk of food poisoning . Semi-vegetarians who consume poultry as the only source of meat are said to adhere to pollotarianism . The word "poultry" comes from Middle English pultry or pultrie , itself derived from Old French / Norman word pouletrie . The term for an immature poultry, pullet , like its doublet poult , comes from Middle English pulet and Old French polet , both from

2736-608: A male's genetic quality by studying a feral population of peafowl in Whipsnade Wildlife Park in southern England. The number of eyespots in the train predicted a male's mating success. She was able to manipulate this success by cutting the eyespots off some of the males' tails: females lost interest in pruned males and became attracted to untrimmed ones. Males with fewer eyespots, thus having lower mating success, suffered from greater predation. She allowed females to mate with males with differing numbers of eyespots, and reared

2888-480: A means of communication between far-flung places through the exploitation of the pigeon's homing instinct; research suggests it was domesticated as early as 10,000 years ago. Chicken fossils in China have been dated to 7,400 years ago. The chicken's wild ancestor is Gallus gallus , the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia. The species appears to have been kept initially for cockfighting rather than for food. Two insects ,

3040-751: A normal manner. The eggs are laid on the floor of the cage and roll into troughs outside for ease of collection. Battery cages for hens have been illegal in the EU since January 1, 2012. Chickens raised intensively for their meat are known as "broilers". Breeds have been developed that can grow to an acceptable carcass size (2 kg or 4 lb 7 oz) in six weeks or less. Broilers grow so fast, their legs cannot always support their weight and their hearts and respiratory systems may not be able to supply enough oxygen to their developing muscles. Mortality rates at 1% are much higher than for less-intensively reared laying birds which take 18 weeks to reach similar weights. Processing

3192-525: A peacock serving as his mount, and the other a rooster adorning his flag. The peacock displays the divine shape of Omkara when it spreads its magnificent plumes into a full-blown circular form. In the Tantric traditions of Hinduism the goddess Tvarita is depicted with peacock feathers. A peacock feather also adorns the crest of the god Krishna . Chandragupta Maurya , the founder of the Mauryan Empire ,

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3344-584: A peacock's train, loud call, and fearless behavior have been formed by natural selection (with or without sexual selection too), and served as an aposematic display to intimidate predators and rivals. This hypothesis is designed to explain Takahashi's observations that in Japan, neither reproductive success nor physical condition correlate with the train's length, symmetry or number of eyespots. Multiple hypotheses involving female choice have been posited. One hypothesis

3496-468: A population bottleneck where genetic drift is enhanced by the small population size. Mutations can also be fixed in a population by a selective sweep . Mutational load can be increased by reduced selective pressure against moderately harmful traits when reproductive fitness is controlled by human management. However, there is evidence against a bottleneck in crops, such as barley, maize, and sorghum, where genetic diversity slowly declined rather than showing

3648-779: A predictable supply of a resource, resulting in mutual benefits . She noted further that it is not synonymous with agriculture since agriculture depends on domesticated organisms but does not automatically result from domestication. Michael D. Purugganan notes that domestication has been hard to define, despite the "instinctual consensus" that it means "the plants and animals found under the care of humans that provide us with benefits and which have evolved under our control." He comments that insects such as termites , ambrosia beetles , and leafcutter ants have domesticated some species of fungi , and notes further that other groups such as weeds and commensals have wrongly been called domesticated. Starting from Zeder's definition, Purugganan proposes

3800-699: A preventative measure. Diseases can also be common and spread rapidly through the flock. In extensive systems, the birds are exposed to adverse weather conditions and are vulnerable to predators and disease-carrying wild birds. Barn systems have been found to have the worst bird welfare. In Southeast Asia , a lack of disease control in free-range farming has been associated with outbreaks of avian influenza . In many countries, national and regional poultry shows are held where enthusiasts exhibit their birds which are judged on certain phenotypical breed traits as specified by their respective breed standards . The idea of poultry exhibition may have originated after cockfighting

3952-425: A protracted coevolutionary process with multiple stages along different pathways. There are three proposed major pathways that most mammal domesticates followed into domestication: Humans did not intend to domesticate mammals from either the commensal or prey pathways, or at least they did not envision a domesticated animal would result from it. In both of those cases, humans became entangled with these species as

4104-575: A rapid initial fall at the point of domestication. Further, the genetic diversity of these crops was regularly replenished from the natural population. Similar evidence exists for horses, pigs, cows, and goats. At least three groups of insects, namely ambrosia beetles, leafcutter ants, and fungus-growing termites, have domesticated species of fungi . Ambrosia beetles in the weevil subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae excavate tunnels in dead or stressed trees into which they introduce fungal gardens, their sole source of nutrition. After landing on

4256-440: A result of people hatching and rearing young birds from eggs collected from the wild, but later involved keeping the birds permanently in captivity . Domesticated chickens may have been used for cockfighting at first and quail kept for their songs, but people soon realised the advantages of having a captive-bred source of food. Selective breeding for fast growth, egg-laying ability, conformation, plumage and docility took place over

4408-792: A seven-year Japanese study of free-ranging peafowl concluded that female peafowl do not select mates solely on the basis of their trains. Mariko Takahashi found no evidence that peahens preferred peacocks with more elaborate trains (such as with more eyespots), a more symmetrical arrangement, or a greater length. Takahashi determined that the peacock's train was not the universal target of female mate choice , showed little variance across male populations, and did not correlate with male physiological condition. Adeline Loyau and her colleagues responded that alternative and possibly central explanations for these results had been overlooked. They concluded that female choice might indeed vary in different ecological conditions. A peacock's copulation success rate depends on

4560-399: A sheen of blue. Unlike Indian peafowl, the green peahen is similar to the male, but has shorter upper tail coverts, a more coppery neck, and overall less iridescence. Both males and females have spurs. The Congo peacock ( Afropavo congensis ) male does not display his covert feathers, but uses his actual tail feathers during courtship displays. These feathers are much shorter than those of

4712-457: A steady supply of resources, such as meat, milk, or labor. The process is gradual and geographically diffuse, based on trial and error. Domestication affected genes for behavior in animals, making them less aggressive. In plants, domestication affected genes for morphology, such as increasing seed size and stopping the shattering of cereal seedheads. Such changes both make domesticated organisms easier to handle and reduce their ability to survive in

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4864-402: A suitable tree, an ambrosia beetle excavates a tunnel in which it releases its fungal symbiont . The fungus penetrates the plant's xylem tissue, extracts nutrients from it, and concentrates the nutrients on and near the surface of the beetle gallery. Ambrosia fungi are typically poor wood degraders and instead utilize less demanding nutrients. Symbiotic fungi produce and detoxify ethanol, which

5016-465: A symbol for joy and creativity, with quills from the bird's feathers being a metaphor for a writer's inspiration. The peacock motif was revived in the Renaissance iconography that unified Hera and Juno , and on which European painters focused. In 1956, John J. Graham created an abstraction of an 11-feathered peacock logo for American broadcaster NBC . This brightly hued peacock was adopted due to

5168-654: A symbol of immortality. In Hellenistic imagery, the Greek goddess Hera 's chariot was pulled by peacocks, birds not known to Greeks before the conquests of Alexander . Alexander's tutor, Aristotle , refers to it as "the Persian bird". When Alexander saw the birds in India, he was so amazed at their beauty that he threatened the severest penalties for any man who slew one. Claudius Aelianus writes that there were peacocks in India, larger than anywhere else. One myth states that Hera's servant,

5320-412: A variety of animal and plant materials such as aquatic insects, molluscs, worms, small amphibians, waterweeds, and grasses. They feed in shallow water by dabbling, with their heads underwater and their tails upended. Most domestic ducks are too heavy to fly, and they are social birds, preferring to live and move around together in groups. They keep their plumage waterproof by preening, a process that spreads

5472-481: A vegetable garden clear of pests and will eat the ticks that carry Lyme disease . They happily roost in trees and give a loud vocal warning of the approach of predators. Their flesh and eggs can be eaten in the same way as chickens, young birds being ready for the table at the age of about four months. A squab is the name given to the young of domestic pigeons that are destined for the table. Like other domesticated pigeons, birds used for this purpose are descended from

5624-468: A working animal. Among invertebrates , the silkworm and the western honey bee were domesticated over 5,000 years ago for silk and honey , respectively. The domestication of plants began around 13,000–11,000 years ago with cereals such as wheat and barley in the Middle East , alongside crops such as lentil , pea , chickpea , and flax . Beginning around 10,000 years ago, Indigenous peoples in

5776-419: A year; fast-growing, fleshy birds destined for consumption at a young age, and utility birds which produce both an acceptable number of eggs and a well-fleshed carcase. Male birds are unwanted in the egg-laying industry and can often be identified as soon as they are hatch for subsequent culling. In meat breeds, these birds are sometimes castrated (often chemically) to prevent aggression. The resulting bird, called

5928-494: Is accompanied by low levels of fat which have a favourable mix of fatty acids. Chicken meat contains about two to three times as much polyunsaturated fat as most types of red meat when measured by weight. However, for boneless, skinless chicken breast, the amount is much lower. 100 grams (3.5 oz) of raw chicken breast contains 2 grams (0.071 oz) of fat and 22 grams (0.78 oz) of protein, compared to 9 grams (0.32 oz) of fat and 20 grams (0.71 oz) of protein for

6080-405: Is an attractant for ambrosia beetles and likely prevents the growth of antagonistic pathogens and selects for other beneficial symbionts. Ambrosia beetles mainly colonise wood of recently dead trees. The leafcutter ants are any of some 47 species of leaf-chewing ants in the genera Acromyrmex and Atta . The ants carry the discs of leaves that they have cut back to their nest, where they feed

6232-432: Is domesticated wheat, which relies on farmers for its reproduction and dissemination. Domesticated plants differ from their wild relatives in many ways, including Plant defenses against herbivory , such as thorns, spines, and prickles , poison, protective coverings, and sturdiness may have been reduced in domesticated plants. This would make them more likely to be eaten by herbivores unless protected by humans, but there

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6384-405: Is frequently separated, and these parts are referred to as 手羽元 ( teba-moto "wing base") and 手羽先 ( teba-saki "wing tip"). Dark meat, which avian myologists refer to as "red muscle", is used for sustained activity—chiefly walking, in the case of a chicken. The dark color comes from the protein myoglobin , which plays a key role in oxygen uptake and storage within cells. White muscle, in contrast,

6536-413: Is more of a long-distance attraction signal. Actions such as train rattling and wing shaking also kept the peahens' attention. Although an intricate display catches a peahen's attention, the redundant signal hypothesis also plays a crucial role in keeping this attention on the peacock's display. The redundant signal hypothesis explains that whilst each signal that a male projects is about the same quality,

6688-443: Is native to India and significant in its culture. In Hinduism , the Indian peacock is the mount of the god of war , Kartikeya , and the warrior goddess Kaumari , and is also depicted around the goddess Santoshi . During a war with Asuras , Kartikeya split the demon king Surapadman in half. Out of respect for his adversary's prowess in battle, the god converted the two halves into an integral part of himself. One half became

6840-457: Is not normally transferred to people; however, people in contact with live poultry are at the greatest risk of becoming infected with the virus and this is of particular concern in areas such as Southeast Asia, where the disease is endemic in the wild bird population and domestic poultry can become infected. The virus possibly could mutate to become highly virulent and infectious in humans and cause an influenza pandemic . Bacteria can be grown in

6992-669: Is only weak support for most of this. Farmers did select for reduced bitterness and lower toxicity and for food quality, which likely increased crop palatability to herbivores as to humans. However, a survey of 29 plant domestications found that crops were as well-defended against two major insect pests ( beet armyworm and green peach aphid ) both chemically (e.g. with bitter substances) and morphologically (e.g. with toughness) as their wild ancestors. During domestication, crop species undergo intense artificial selection that alters their genomes, establishing core traits that define them as domesticated, such as increased grain size. Comparison of

7144-501: Is predominantly in southwestern China, northern Thailand and Myanmar. These domesticated chickens spread across Southeast and South Asia where they interbred with local wild species of junglefowl, forming genetically and geographically distinct groups. Analysis of the most popular commercial breed shows that the White Leghorn breed possesses a mosaic of divergent ancestries inherited from subspecies of red junglefowl. Chickens were one of

7296-522: Is said to be the world's oldest spectator sport. Two mature males (cocks or roosters) are set to fight each other, and will do so with great vigour until one is critically injured or killed. Cockfighting is extremely widespread in Island Southeast Asia , and often had ritual significance in addition to being a gambling sport. They also formed part of the cultures of ancient India, China, Persia, Greece, Rome, and large sums were won or lost depending on

7448-762: Is suitable only for short bursts of activity such as, for chickens, flying. Thus, the chicken's leg and thigh meat are dark, while its breast meat (which makes up the primary flight muscles) is white. Other birds with breast muscle more suitable for sustained flight, such as ducks and geese, have red muscle (and therefore dark meat) throughout. Some cuts of meat including poultry expose the microscopic regular structure of intracellular muscle fibrils which can diffract light and produce iridescent colors, an optical phenomenon sometimes called structural coloration . As of 2022, no clinical trials have assessed poultry intake on human health. Poultry meat and eggs provide nutritionally beneficial food containing protein of high quality. This

7600-562: Is that females choose mates with good genes. Males with more exaggerated secondary sexual characteristics, such as bigger, brighter peacock trains, tend to have better genes in the peahen's eyes. These better genes directly benefit her offspring, as well as her fitness and reproductive success. Runaway selection is another hypothesis. In runaway sexual selection, linked genes in males and females code for sexually dimorphic traits in males, and preference for those traits in females. The close spatial association of alleles for loci involved in

7752-587: Is that people with egg allergies are unable to be immunised, but this disadvantage may be overcome as new techniques for cell-based rather than egg-based culture become available. Cell-based culture will also be useful in a pandemic when it may be difficult to acquire a sufficiently large quantity of suitable sterile, fertile eggs. Domesticated Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants , takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them

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7904-432: Is the second most widely eaten type of meat in the world, accounting for about 30% of total meat production worldwide compared to pork at 38%. Sixteen billion birds are raised annually for consumption, more than half of these in industrialised, factory-like production units. Global broiler meat production rose to 84.6 million tonnes in 2013. The largest producers were the United States (20%), China (16.6%), Brazil (15.1%) and

8056-668: Is the suite of phenotypic traits that arose during the initial domestication process and which distinguish crops from their wild ancestors . It can also mean a set of differences now observed in domesticated mammals, not necessarily reflecting the initial domestication process. The changes include increased docility and tameness, coat coloration, reductions in tooth size, craniofacial morphology, ear and tail form (e.g., floppy ears), estrus cycles, levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone and neurotransmitters, prolongations in juvenile behavior, and reductions in brain size and of particular brain regions. The domestication of animals and plants

8208-712: Is today Baluchistan in Pakistan. In East Asia 8,000 years ago, pigs were domesticated from wild boar genetically different from those found in the Fertile Crescent. The cat was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, perhaps 10,000 years ago, from European wildcats , possibly to control rodents that were damaging stored food. The domestication of vertebrate animals is the relationship between non-human vertebrates and humans who have an influence on their care and reproduction. In his 1868 book The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication , Charles Darwin recognized

8360-636: Is widely grown for food. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been used for thousands of years to ferment beer and wine , and to leaven bread . Mould fungi including Penicillium are used to mature cheeses and other dairy products, as well as to make drugs such as antibiotics . Selection of animals for visible traits may have undesired consequences for the genetics of domestic animals. A side effect of domestication has been zoonotic diseases. For example, cattle have given humanity various viral poxes , measles , and tuberculosis ; pigs and ducks have contributed influenza ; and horses have brought

8512-705: The Indian Ocean and those in the Pacific Ocean . The coconut experienced a founder effect , where a small number of individuals with low diversity founded the modern population, permanently losing much of the genetic variation of the wild population. Population bottlenecks which reduced variation throughout the genome at some later date after domestication are evident in crops such as pearl millet , cotton , common bean and lima bean . In wheat, domestication involved repeated hybridization and polyploidy . These steps are large and essentially instantaneous changes to

8664-579: The Latin word pullus , meaning a young fowl or young animal. The word "fowl" is of Germanic origin (cf. Old English Fugol , German Vogel , Danish Fugl ). "Poultry" is a term used for any kind of domesticated bird, captive-raised for its utility, and traditionally the word has been used to refer to wildfowl ( Galliformes ) and waterfowl ( Anseriformes ) but not to cagebirds such as songbirds and parrots . "Poultry" can be defined as domestic fowls, including chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, raised for

8816-616: The Levant at least 23,000 years ago. Neolithic societies in West Asia first began to cultivate and then domesticate some of these plants around 13,000 to 11,000 years ago. The founder crops of the West Asian Neolithic included cereals ( emmer , einkorn wheat , barley ), pulses ( lentil , pea , chickpea , bitter vetch ), and flax . Other plants were independently domesticated in 13 centers of origin (subdivided into 24 areas) of

8968-540: The Medieval period, various types of fowl were consumed as food, with the poorer populations (such as serfs ) consuming more common birds , such as chicken . However, the more wealthy gentry were privileged to eat less usual foods, such as swan, and even peafowl were consumed. On a king's table, a peacock would be for ostentatious display as much as for culinary consumption. From the 1864 The English and Australian Cookery Book , regarding occasions and preparation of

9120-638: The Mughal seat of power was called the Peacock Throne . The peacock is represented in both the Burmese and Sinhalese zodiacs . To the Sinhalese people , the peacock is the third animal of the zodiac of Sri Lanka . Peacocks (often a symbol of pride and vanity) were believed to deliberately consume poisonous substances in order to become immune to them, as well as to make the colours of their resplendent plumage all

9272-619: The coding DNA of chromosome 8 in rice between fragrant and non-fragrant varieties showed that aromatic and fragrant rice, including basmati and jasmine , is derived from an ancestral rice domesticate that suffered a deletion in exon 7 which altered the coding for betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH2). Comparison of the potato genome with that of other plants located genes for resistance to potato blight caused by Phytophthora infestans . In coconut , genomic analysis of 10 microsatellite loci (of noncoding DNA ) found two episodes of domestication based on differences between individuals in

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9424-603: The domesticated animals carried with the sea-borne Austronesian migrations into Taiwan , Island Southeast Asia , Island Melanesia , Madagascar , and the Pacific Islands ; starting from around 3500 to 2500 BC. By 2000 BC, chickens seem to have reached the Indus Valley and 250 years later, they arrived in Egypt. They were still used for fighting and were regarded as symbols of fertility. The Romans used them in divination , and

9576-470: The domestication of wheat . Wild wheat shatters and falls to the ground to reseed itself when ripe, but domesticated wheat stays on the stem for easier harvesting. This change was possible because of a random mutation in the wild populations at the beginning of wheat's cultivation . Wheat with this mutation was harvested more frequently and became the seed for the next crop. Therefore, without realizing it, early farmers selected for this mutation. The result

9728-417: The domestication syndrome , traits presumed essential in the early stages of domestication, while others represent later improvement traits. Domesticated mammals in particular tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; other common traits are floppy ears, a smaller brain, and a shorter muzzle. Domestication traits are generally fixed within all domesticates, and were selected during

9880-424: The leaf litter for seeds, invertebrates, and other small animals. They seldom fly except as a result of perceived danger, preferring to run into the undergrowth if approached. Today's domestic chicken ( Gallus gallus domesticus ) is mainly descended from the wild red junglefowl of Asia, with some additional input from grey junglefowl , Sri Lankan junglefowl , and green junglefowl . Genomic studies estimate that

10032-476: The mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos ) is the ancestor of all breeds of domestic duck (with the exception of the Muscovy duck ( Cairina moschata ), which is not closely related to other ducks). Ducks are farmed mainly for their meat, eggs, and down . As is the case with chickens, various breeds have been developed, selected for egg-laying ability, fast growth, and a well-covered carcase. The most common commercial breed in

10184-437: The rhinoviruses . Many parasites , too, have their origins in domestic animals. Alongside these, the advent of domestication resulted in denser human populations, which provided ripe conditions for pathogens to reproduce, mutate, spread, and eventually find a new host in humans. Scholars have expressed widely differing viewpoints on domestication's effects on society. Anarcho-primitivism critiques domestication as destroying

10336-437: The rock dove ( Columba livia ). Special utility breeds with desirable characteristics are used. Two eggs are laid and incubated for about 17 days. When they hatch, the squabs are fed by both parents on "pigeon's milk", a thick secretion high in protein produced by the crop . Squabs grow rapidly, but are slow to fledge and are ready to leave the nest at 26 to 30 days weighing about 500 g (1 lb 2 oz). By this time,

10488-436: The silkworm and the western honey bee , have been domesticated for over 5,000 years, often for commercial use. The silkworm is raised for the silk threads wound around its pupal cocoon; the western honey bee, for honey , and, from the 20th century, for pollination of crops. Several other invertebrates have been domesticated, both terrestrial and aquatic, including some such as Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies and

10640-528: The swan goose ( Anser cygnoides ), domesticated in Siberia about a thousand years later, is known as a Chinese goose . The two hybridise with each other and the large knob at the base of the beak, a noticeable feature of the Chinese goose, is present to a varying extent in these hybrids. The hybrids are fertile and have resulted in several of the modern breeds. Despite their early domestication, geese have never gained

10792-550: The Americas began to cultivate peanuts , squash , maize , potatoes , cotton , and cassava . Rice was first domesticated in China some about 9,000 years ago. In Africa, crops such as sorghum were domesticated. Agriculture developed in some 13 centres around the world, domesticating different crops and animals. Three groups of insects, namely ambrosia beetles , leafcutter ants , and fungus-growing termites have independently domesticated species of fungi, on which they feed. In

10944-576: The Americas, Africa, and Asia (the Middle East, South Asia, the Far East, and New Guinea and Wallacea); in some thirteen of these regions people began to cultivate grasses and grains. Rice was first cultivated in East Asia. Sorghum was widely cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa, while peanuts, squash, cotton, maize , potatoes , and cassava were domesticated in the Americas. Continued domestication

11096-485: The Christian believer drinking from the waters of eternal life. The peacock can also symbolise the cosmos if one interprets its tail with its many "eyes" as the vault of heaven dotted by the sun, moon, and stars. Due to the adoption by Augustine of the ancient idea that the peacock's flesh did not decay, the bird was again associated with immortality. In Christian iconography, two peacocks are often depicted either side of

11248-542: The Egyptians made a breakthrough when they learned the difficult technique of artificial incubation . Since then, the keeping of chickens has spread around the world for the production of food with the domestic fowl being a valuable source of both eggs and meat. Since their domestication, a large number of breeds of chickens have been established, but with the exception of the white Leghorn , most commercial birds are of hybrid origin. In about 1800, chickens began to be kept on

11400-483: The English naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) presented firm evidence for it being a variety under domestication, which treatment is now well established and accepted. It being a colour variation rather than a wild species was important for Darwin to prove, as otherwise it could undermine his theory of slow modification by natural selection in the wild. It is, however, only a case of genetic variation within

11552-484: The European Union (11.3%). There are two distinct models of production; the European Union supply chain model seeks to supply products which can be traced back to the farm of origin. This model faces the increasing costs of implementing additional food safety requirements, welfare issues and environmental regulations. In contrast, the United States model turns the product into a commodity. World production of duck meat

11704-492: The Indian and green species, and the ocelli are much less pronounced. Females of the Indian and African species are dull grey and/or brown. Chicks of both sexes in all the species are cryptically colored. They vary between yellow and tawny, usually with patches of darker brown or light tan and "dirty white" ivory. Mature peahens have been recorded as suddenly growing typically male peacock plumage and making male calls. Research has suggested that changes in mature birds are due to

11856-587: The Late Pleistocene. Domestication reduces genetic diversity of the domesticated population, especially of alleles of genes targeted by selection. One reason is a population bottleneck created by artificially selecting the most desirable individuals to breed from. Most of the domesticated strain is then born from just a few ancestors, creating a situation similar to the founder effect . Domesticated populations such as of dogs, rice, sunflowers, maize, and horses have an increased mutation load , as expected in

12008-446: The Tree of Life. The symbolic association of peacock feathers with the wings of angels led to the belief that the waving of such liturgical fans resulted in an automated emission of prayers. This affinity between peacocks' and angels' feathers was also expressed in other artistic media, including paintings of angels with peacock feather wings Among Ashkenazi Jews , the golden peacock is

12160-556: The United Kingdom and the United States is the Pekin duck , which can lay 200 eggs a year and can reach a weight of 3.5 kg (7 lb 11 oz) in 44 days. In the Western world , ducks are not as popular as chickens, because the latter produce larger quantities of white, lean meat and are easier to keep intensively, making the price of chicken meat lower than that of duck meat. While popular in haute cuisine , duck appears less frequently in

12312-525: The United Peafowl Association to become officially recognised as a morph among breeders. Alternately-coloured peafowl are born differently coloured than wild-type peafowl, and though each colour is recognisable at hatch, their peachick plumage does not necessarily match their adult plumage. Occasionally, peafowl appear with white plumage. Although albino peafowl do exist, this is quite rare, and almost all white peafowl are not albinos; they have

12464-478: The addition of multiple signals enhances the reliability of that mate. This idea also suggests that the success of multiple signalling is not only due to the repetitiveness of the signal, but also of multiple receivers of the signal. In the peacock species, males congregate a communal display during breeding season and the peahens observe. Peacocks first defend their territory through intra-sexual behaviour, defending their areas from intruders. They fight for areas within

12616-423: The adult pigeons will have laid and be incubating another pair of eggs and a prolific pair should produce two squabs every four weeks during a breeding season lasting several months. Worldwide, more chickens are kept than any other type of poultry, with over 50 billion birds being raised each year as a source of meat and eggs. Traditionally, such birds would have been kept extensively in small flocks, foraging during

12768-612: The attractions of rearing geese is their ability to grow and thrive on a grass-based system. They are very gregarious and have good memories and can be allowed to roam widely in the knowledge that they will return home by dusk. The Chinese goose is more aggressive and noisy than other geese and can be used as a guard animal to warn of intruders. The flesh of meat geese is dark-coloured and high in protein, but they deposit fat subcutaneously, although this fat contains mostly monounsaturated fatty acids . The birds are killed either around 10 or about 24 weeks. Between these ages, problems with dressing

12920-453: The beginning of the Holocene 11,700 years ago, a warmer climate and increasing human populations led to small-scale animal and plant domestication and an increased supply of food. The appearance of the domestic dog in the archaeological record, at least 15,000 years ago, was followed by domestication of livestock and of crops such as wheat and barley , the invention of agriculture , and

13072-681: The bird around 800 BC, and Pueblo Indians inhabiting the Colorado Plateau in the United States did likewise around 200 BC. They used the feathers for robes, blankets, and ceremonial purposes. More than 1,000 years later, they became an important food source. The first Europeans to encounter the bird misidentified it as a guineafowl, a bird known as a "turkey fowl" at that time because it had been introduced into Europe via Turkey. Commercial turkeys are usually reared indoors under controlled conditions. These are often large buildings, purpose-built to provide ventilation and low light intensities (this reduces

13224-477: The birds is done automatically with conveyor-belt efficiency. They are hung by their feet, stunned, killed, bled, scalded, plucked, have their heads and feet removed, eviscerated, washed, chilled, drained, weighed, and packed, all within the course of little over two hours. Both intensive and free-range farming have animal welfare concerns. In intensive systems, cannibalism , feather pecking and vent pecking can be common, with some farmers using beak trimming as

13376-422: The birds' activity and thereby increases the rate of weight gain). The lights can be switched on for 24 h/day, or a range of step-wise light regimens to encourage the birds to feed often and therefore grow rapidly. Females achieve slaughter weight at about 15 weeks of age and males at about 19. Mature commercial birds may be twice as heavy as their wild counterparts. Many different breeds have been developed, but

13528-579: The blue or Indian peafowl originally from the Indian subcontinent , and the green peafowl from Southeast Asia. The Congo peafowl , native only to the Congo Basin , is not a true peafowl. Male peafowl are known for their piercing calls and their extravagant plumage. The latter is especially prominent in the Asiatic species, which have an eye-spotted "tail" or "train" of covert feathers , which they display as part of

13680-512: The carcase occur because of the presence of developing pin feathers . In some countries, geese and ducks are force-fed to produce livers with an exceptionally high fat content for the production of foie gras . Over 75% of world production of this product occurs in France, with lesser industries in Hungary and Bulgaria and a growing production in China. Foie gras is considered a luxury in many parts of

13832-506: The case of the termites, the relationship is a fully obligate symbiosis on both sides. Domestication (not to be confused with the taming of an individual animal ), is from the Latin domesticus , 'belonging to the house'. The term remained loosely defined until the 21st century, when the American archaeologist Melinda A. Zeder defined it as a long-term relationship in which humans take over control and care of another organism to gain

13984-560: The central figures of the Yazidi religion , is symbolized with a peacock. In Yazidi creation stories , before the creation of this world, God created seven Divine Beings , of whom Tawûsî Melek was appointed as the leader. God assigned all of the world's affairs to these seven Divine Beings, also often referred to as the Seven Angels or heft sirr ("the Seven Mysteries"). In Yazidism,

14136-490: The centuries, and modern breeds often look very different from their wild ancestors. Although some birds are still kept in small flocks in extensive systems, most birds available in the market today are reared in intensive commercial enterprises. Together with pork , poultry is one of the two most widely-eaten types of meat globally, with over 70% of the meat supply in 2012 between them; poultry provides nutritionally beneficial food containing high-quality protein accompanied by

14288-568: The chicken was domesticated 8,000 years ago in Southeast Asia and spread to China and India 2000–3000 years later. Archaeological evidence supports domestic chickens in Southeast Asia well before 6000 BC, China by 6000 BC and India by 2000 BC. A landmark 2020 Nature study that fully sequenced 863 chickens across the world suggests that all domestic chickens originate from a single domestication event of red junglefowl whose present-day distribution

14440-574: The cold-intolerant green peafowl while still looking like their green parents. Plumage varies between individual spaldings, with some looking far more like green peafowl and some looking far more like blue peafowl, though most visually carry traits of both. In addition to the wild-type "blue" colouration, several hundred variations in colour and pattern are recognised as separate morphs of the Indian Blue among peafowl breeders. Pattern variations include solid-wing/black shoulder (the black and brown stripes on

14592-408: The colours of his eyespots (ocelli) and the angle at which they are displayed. The angle at which the ocelli are displayed during courtship is more important in a peahen's choice of males than train size or number of ocelli. Peahens pay careful attention to the different parts of a peacock's train during his display. The lower train is usually evaluated during close-up courtship, while the upper train

14744-509: The commercial importance of chickens and ducks. Domestic geese are much larger than their wild counterparts and tend to have thick necks, an upright posture, and large bodies with broad rear ends. The greylag-derived birds are large and fleshy and used for meat, while the Chinese geese have smaller frames and are mainly used for egg production. The fine down of both is valued for use in pillows and padded garments. They forage on grass and weeds, supplementing this with small invertebrates, and one of

14896-416: The congregation to display a strong front for the peahens. Central positions are usually taken by older, dominant males, which influences mating success. Certain morphological and behavioural traits come in to play during inter and intra-sexual selection, which include train length for territory acquisition and visual and vocal displays involved in mate choice by peahens. Peafowl are forest birds that nest on

15048-529: The day and housed at night. This is still the case in developing countries, where the women often make important contributions to family livelihoods through keeping poultry. However, rising world populations and urbanization have led to the bulk of production being in larger, more intensive specialist units. These are often situated close to where the feed is grown or near to where the meat is needed, and result in cheap, safe food being made available for urban communities. Profitability of production depends very much on

15200-509: The domestication of animals involved violence against animals and damage to the environment. This, in turn, he argues, corrupted human ethics and paved the way for "conquest, extermination, displacement, repression, coerced and enslaved servitude, gender subordination and sexual exploitation, and hunger." Domesticated ecosystems provide food, reduce predator and natural dangers, and promote commerce, but their creation has resulted in habitat alteration or loss, and multiple extinctions commencing in

15352-515: The domestication syndrome; it is predicted that domestic animals are less resistant to parasites than their wild relatives. Domesticated birds principally mean poultry , raised for meat and eggs: some Galliformes ( chicken , turkey , guineafowl ) and Anseriformes (waterfowl: ducks , geese , and swans ). Also widely domesticated are cagebirds such as songbirds and parrots ; these are kept both for pleasure and for use in research. The domestic pigeon has been used both for food and as

15504-463: The family Anatidae ( ducks and geese ) but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry . Recent genomic studies involving the four extant junglefowl species reveals that the domestication of chicken, the most populous poultry species, occurred around 8,000 years ago in Southeast Asia . This was previously believed to have occurred around 5,400 years ago, also in Southeast Asia. The process may have originally occurred as

15656-428: The fittest males could survive the handicap of a large train. Thus, a brilliant train serves as an honest indicator for females that these highly ornamented males are good at surviving for other reasons, so are preferable mates. This theory may be contrasted with Ronald Fisher 's hypothesis that male sexual traits are the result of initially arbitrary aesthetic selection by females. In contrast to Petrie's findings,

15808-549: The flesh of these birds. Poultry can be distinguished from "game", defined as wild birds or mammals hunted for food or sport, a word also used to describe the meat of these when eaten. Chickens are medium-sized, chunky birds with an upright stance and characterised by fleshy red combs and wattles on their heads. Males, known as cocks, are usually larger, more boldly coloured, and have more exaggerated plumage than females (hens). Chickens are gregarious, omnivorous , ground-dwelling birds that in their natural surroundings search among

15960-447: The freshwater cnidarian Hydra for research into genetics and physiology. Few have a long history of domestication. Most are used for food or other products such as shellac and cochineal . The phyla involved are Cnidaria , Platyhelminthes (for biological pest control ), Annelida , Mollusca , Arthropoda (marine crustaceans as well as insects and spiders), and Echinodermata . While many marine mollusks are used for food, only

16112-810: The genome and the epigenome , enabling a rapid evolutionary response to artificial selection. Polyploidy increases the number of chromosomes, bringing new combinations of genes and alleles, which in turn enable further changes such as by chromosomal crossover . The microbiome , the collection of microorganisms inhabiting the surface and internal tissue of plants, is affected by domestication. This includes changes in microbial species composition and diversity. Plant lineage, including speciation , domestication, and breeding , have shaped plant endophytes ( phylosymbiosis ) in similar patterns as plant genes. Several species of fungi have been domesticated for use directly as food, or in fermentation to produce foods and drugs. The cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus

16264-484: The ground, but roost in trees. They are terrestrial feeders. All species of peafowl are believed to be polygamous . In common with other members of the Galliformes , the males possess metatarsal spurs or "thorns" on their legs used during intraspecific territorial fights with some other members of their kind. In courtship, vocalisation stands to be a primary way for peacocks to attract peahens. Some studies suggest that

16416-532: The homogenizing effect of gene flow from wild boars into pigs, and created domestication islands in the genome. The same process may apply to other domesticated animals. The 2023 parasite-mediated domestication hypothesis suggests that endoparasites such as helminths and protozoa could have mediated the domestication of mammals. Domestication involves taming, which has an endocrine component; and parasites can modify endocrine activity and microRNAs . Genes for resistance to parasites might be linked to those for

16568-410: The hundred-eyed Argus Panoptes , was instructed to guard the woman-turned-cow, Io . Hera had transformed Io into a cow after learning of Zeus 's interest in her. Zeus had the messenger of the gods, Hermes , kill Argus through eternal sleep and free Io. According to Ovid , to commemorate her faithful watchman, Hera had the hundred eyes of Argus preserved forever, in the peacock's tail. The symbolism

16720-460: The increase in colour programming. NBC's first colour broadcasts showed only a still frame of the colourful peacock. The emblem made its first on-air appearance on 22 May 1956. The current, six-feathered logo debuted on 12 May 1986. Hybrids between Indian peafowl and Green peafowl are called Spaldings , after the first person to successfully hybridise them, Keith Spalding. Spaldings with a high-green phenotype do much better in cold temperatures than

16872-426: The initial episode of domestication of that animal or plant, whereas improvement traits are present only in a proportion of domesticates, though they may be fixed in individual breeds or regional populations . Certain animal species, and certain individuals within those species, make better candidates for domestication because of their behavioral characteristics: The beginnings of mammal domestication involved

17024-410: The intricacy of the "song" produced by displaying peacocks proved to be impressive to peafowl. Singing in peacocks usually occurs just before, just after, or sometimes during copulation. Peafowl are omnivores and mostly eat plants, flower petals, seed heads, insects and other arthropods , reptiles , and amphibians . Wild peafowl look for their food scratching around in leaf litter either early in

17176-436: The laboratory on nutrient culture media, but viruses need living cells in which to replicate. Many vaccines to infectious diseases can be grown in fertilised chicken eggs. Millions of eggs are used each year to generate the annual flu vaccine requirements, a complex process that takes about six months after the decision is made as to what strains of virus to include in the new vaccine. A problem with using eggs for this purpose

17328-483: The layers of the barbules cause the coloration of their feathers. Slight changes to the spacing of the barbules result in different colors. Brown feathers are a mixture of red and blue: one color is created by the periodic structure and the other is created by a Fabry–Pérot interference peak from reflections from the outer and inner boundaries. Color derived from physical structure rather than pigment can vary with viewing angle, causing iridescence. Most commonly, during

17480-580: The leaf material to the fungi that they tend. Some of these fungi are not fully domesticated: the fungi farmed by Mycocepurus smithii constantly produce spores that are not useful to the ants, which eat fungal hyphae instead. The process of domestication by Atta ants, on the other hand, is complete; it took 30 million years. Some 330 fungus-growing termite species of the subfamily Macrotermitinae cultivate Termitomyces fungi to eat; domestication occurred exactly once, 25–40 mya . The fungi, described by Roger Heim in 1942, grow on 'combs' formed from

17632-460: The majority of commercial birds are white, as this improves the appearance of the dressed carcass, the pin feathers being less visible. Turkeys were at one time mainly consumed on special occasions such as Christmas (10 million birds in the United Kingdom) or Thanksgiving (60 million birds in the United States). However, they are increasingly becoming part of the everyday diet in many parts of

17784-409: The males' fitness, since less-fit males would be disadvantaged by the difficulty of surviving with such large and conspicuous structures. The Indian peacock ( Pavo cristatus ) has iridescent blue and green plumage, mostly metal-like blue and green. In both species, females are a little smaller than males in terms of weight and wingspan, but males are significantly longer due to the "tail", also known as

17936-449: The mass-market food industry. However, things are different in the East. Ducks are more popular there than chickens and are mostly still herded in the traditional way and selected for their ability to find sufficient food in harvested rice fields and other wet environments. The greylag goose ( Anser anser ) was domesticated by the Egyptians at least 3000 years ago, and a different wild species,

18088-562: The mating process. Charles Darwin suggested in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex that peafowl plumage may have evolved through sexual selection : Many female progenitors of the peacock must, during a long line of descent, have appreciated this superiority; for they have unconsciously, by the continued preference for the most beautiful males, rendered the peacock the most splendid of living birds. It has been suggested that

18240-477: The more vibrant – seeing as so many poisonous flora and fauna are so colourful due to aposematism , this idea appears to have merit. The Buddhist deity Mahamayuri is depicted seated on a peacock. Peacocks are seen supporting the throne of Amitabha , the ruby red sunset coloured archetypal Buddha of Infinite Light. India adopted the peacock as its national bird in 1963 and it is one of the national symbols of India . Tawûsî Melek (lit. 'Peacock Angel') one of

18392-741: The morning or at dusk. They retreat to the shade and security of the woods for the hottest portion of the day. These birds are not picky and will eat almost anything they can fit in their beak and digest. They actively hunt insects like ants, crickets and termites; millipedes; and other arthropods and small mammals. Indian peafowl also eat small snakes. Domesticated peafowl may also eat bread and cracked grain such as oats and corn, cheese, cooked rice and sometimes cat food. It has been noticed by keepers that peafowl enjoy protein-rich food including larvae that infest granaries , different kinds of meat and fruit, as well as vegetables including dark leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, beans, beets, and peas. The peafowl

18544-557: The offspring in a communal incubator to control for differences in maternal care. Chicks fathered by more ornamented males weighed more than those fathered by less ornamented males, an attribute generally associated with better survival rate in birds. These chicks were released into the park and recaptured one year later. Those with heavily ornamented feathers were better able to avoid predators and survive in natural conditions. Thus, Petrie's work shows correlations between tail ornamentation, mating success, and increased survival ability in both

18696-475: The ornamented males and their offspring. Furthermore, peafowl and their sexual characteristics have been used in the discussion of the causes for sexual traits. Amotz Zahavi used the excessive tail plumes of male peafowls as evidence for his " handicap principle ". Since these trains are likely to be deleterious to an individual's survival (as their brilliance makes them more visible to predators and their length hinders escape from danger), Zahavi argued that only

18848-599: The outcome of an encounter. Breeds such as the Aseel were developed in the Indian subcontinent for their aggressive behaviour. Cockfighting has been banned in many countries during the last century on the grounds of cruelty to animals. Ducks are medium-sized aquatic birds with broad bills, eyes on the side of the head, fairly long necks, short legs set far back on the body, and webbed feet. Males, known as drakes, are often larger than females (known as hens) and are differently coloured in some breeds. Domestic ducks are omnivores , eating

19000-440: The peacock is believed to represent the diversity of the world, and the colourfulness of the peacock's feathers is considered to represent of all the colours of nature. The feathers of the peacock also symbolize sun rays, from which come light, luminosity and brightness. The peacock opening the feathers of its tail in a circular shape symbolizes the sunrise. Consequently, due to its holiness, Yazidis are not allowed to hunt and eat

19152-497: The peacock, ill-treat it or utter bad words about it. Images of the peacock are also found drawn around the sanctuary of Lalish and on other Yazidi shrines and holy sites, homes, as well as religious, social, cultural and academic centres. In The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa , the Mandaean uthra and emanation Yushamin is described as a peacock. Ancient Greeks believed that the flesh of peafowl did not decay after death, so it became

19304-426: The population. In this mutation, the adult male is melanistic with black wings. In ancient Rome, peafowl were served as a delicacy. The dish was introduced there in approximately 35 B.C. The poet Horace ridiculed the eating of peafowl, saying they tasted like chicken. Peafowl eggs were also valued. Gaius Petronius in his Satyricon also mocked the ostentation and snobbery of eating peafowl and their eggs. During

19456-403: The price of feed, which has been rising. High feed costs could limit further development of poultry production. In free-range husbandry, the birds can roam freely outdoors for at least part of the day. Often, this is in large enclosures, but the birds have access to natural conditions and can exhibit their normal behaviours. A more intensive system is yarding , in which the birds have access to

19608-416: The production of meat or eggs and the word is also used for the flesh of these birds used as food. The Encyclopædia Britannica lists the same bird groups but also includes guinea fowl and squabs (young pigeons). In R. D. Crawford's Poultry breeding and genetics , squabs are omitted but Japanese quail and common pheasant are added to the list, the latter frequently being bred in captivity and released into

19760-465: The raw product is still present. Also, some risk is present for consumers of poultry meat and eggs to bacterial infections such as Salmonella and Campylobacter . Poultry products may become contaminated by these bacteria during handling, processing, marketing, or storage, resulting in food-borne illness if the product is improperly cooked or handled. In general, avian influenza is a disease of birds caused by bird-specific influenza A virus that

19912-514: The relationship between them intensified, and humans' role in their survival and reproduction gradually led to formalized animal husbandry . Although the directed pathway for draft and riding animals proceeded from capture to taming, the other two pathways are not as goal-oriented, and archaeological records suggest that they took place over much longer time frames. Unlike other domestic species selected primarily for production-related traits, dogs were initially selected for their behaviors. The dog

20064-449: The resemblance of their eye spots to blue berries. Multiple causalities for the evolution of female choice are also possible. The peacock's train and iridescent plumage are perhaps the best-known examples of traits believed to have arisen through sexual selection, though with some controversy. Male peafowl erect their trains to form a shimmering fan in their display for females. Marion Petrie tested whether or not these displays signalled

20216-589: The same portion of raw beef flank steak. A 2011 study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute showed that 47% of the meat and poultry sold in United States grocery stores was contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus , and 52% of the bacteria concerned showed resistance to at least three groups of antibiotics. Thorough cooking of the product would kill these bacteria, but a risk of cross-contamination from improper handling of

20368-567: The secretions of the preen gland over their feathers. Clay models of ducks found in China dating back to 4000 BC may indicate the domestication of ducks took place there during the Yangshao culture . Even if this is not the case, domestication of the duck took place in the Far East at least 1500 years earlier than in the West. Lucius Columella , writing in the first century BC, advised those who sought to rear ducks to collect wildfowl eggs and put them under

20520-459: The small number of traits that made domestic species different from their wild ancestors. He was also the first to recognize the difference between conscious selective breeding in which humans directly select for desirable traits and unconscious selection, in which traits evolve as a by-product of natural selection or from selection on other traits. There is a difference between domestic and wild populations; some of these differences constitute

20672-451: The supposed primitive state of harmony with nature in hunter-gatherer societies, and replacing it, possibly violently or by enslavement, with a social hierarchy as property and power emerged. The dialectal naturalist Murray Bookchin has argued that domestication of animals, in turn, meant the domestication of humanity, both parties being unavoidably altered by their relationship with each other. The sociologist David Nibert asserts that

20824-498: The termites' excreta, dominated by tough woody fragments. The termites and the fungi are both obligate symbionts in the relationship. Peafowl Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus Pavo and one species of the closely related genus Afropavo within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks , and female peafowl are referred to as peahens . The two Asiatic species are

20976-473: The train in males, and for preference for more exuberant trains in females, on the chromosome ( linkage disequilibrium ) causes a positive feedback loop that exaggerates both the male traits and the female preferences. Another hypothesis is sensory bias, in which females have a preference for a trait in a non-mating context that becomes transferred to mating, such as Merle Jacobs' food-courtship hypothesis, which suggests that peahens are attracted to peacocks for

21128-620: The transition of humans from foraging to farming in different places and times across the planet. For instance, small-scale trial cultivation of cereals began some 28,000 years ago at the Ohalo II site in Israel. In the Fertile Crescent 11,000–10,000 years ago, zooarchaeology indicates that goats, pigs, sheep, and taurine cattle were the first livestock to be domesticated. Two thousand years later, humped zebu cattle were domesticated in what

21280-408: The wild. The first animal to be domesticated by humans was the dog , as a commensal , at least 15,000 years ago. Other animals, including goats , sheep , and cows , were domesticated around 11,000 years ago. Among birds, the chicken was first domesticated in East Asia, seemingly for cockfighting, some 7,000 years ago. The horse came under domestication around 5,500 years ago in central Asia as

21432-555: The wild. In his 1848 classic book on poultry, Ornamental and Domestic Poultry: Their History, and Management , Edmund Dixon included chapters on the peafowl , guinea fowl , mute swan , turkey , various types of geese , the muscovy duck, other ducks and all types of chickens including bantams. In colloquial speech, the term "fowl" is often used near-synonymously with "domesticated chicken" ( Gallus gallus ), or with "poultry" or even just "bird", and many languages do not distinguish between "poultry" and "fowl". Both words are also used for

21584-435: The wing are instead one solid colour), pied, white-eye (the ocelli in a male's eye feathers have white spots instead of black), and silver pied (a mostly white bird with small patches of colour). Colour variations include white, purple, Buford bronze, opal, midnight, charcoal, jade, and taupe, as well as the sex-linked colours purple, cameo, peach, and Sonja's Violeta. Additional colour and pattern variations are first approved by

21736-457: The world, but the process of feeding the birds in this way is banned in many countries on animal welfare grounds. Turkeys are large birds, their nearest relatives being the pheasant and the guineafowl. Males are larger than females and have spreading, fan-shaped tails and distinctive, fleshy wattles , called a snood , that hang from the top of the beak and are used in courtship display. Wild turkeys can fly, but seldom do so, preferring to run with

21888-447: The world. Guineafowl originated in southern Africa, and the species most often kept as poultry is the helmeted guineafowl ( Numida meleagris ). It is a medium-sized grey or speckled bird with a small naked head with colorful wattles and a knob on top, and was domesticated by the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Guineafowl are hardy, sociable birds that subsist mainly on insects, but also consume grasses and seeds. They will keep

22040-439: Was about 4.2 million tonnes in 2011 with China producing two thirds of the total, some 1.7 billion birds. Other notable duck-producing countries in the Far East include Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea (12% in total). France (3.5%) is the largest producer in the West, followed by other EU nations (3%) and North America (1.7%). China was also by far the largest producer of goose and guinea fowl meat, with

22192-521: Was adopted by early Christianity, thus many early Christian paintings and mosaics show the peacock. The peacock is still used in the Easter season, especially in the east. The "eyes" in the peacock's tail feathers can symbolise the all-seeing Christian God, the Church, or angelic wisdom. The emblem of a pair of peacocks drinking from a vase is used as a symbol of the eucharist and the resurrection, as it represents

22344-559: Was born an orphan and raised by a family farming peacocks. According to the Buddhist tradition , the ancestors of the Maurya kings had settled in a region where peacocks ( mora in Pali ) were abundant. Therefore, they came to be known as "Moriyas", literally, "belonging to the place of peacocks". According to another Buddhist account, these ancestors built a city called Moriya-nagara ("Moriya-city"), which

22496-492: Was domesticated long before other animals, becoming established across Eurasia before the end of the Late Pleistocene era, well before agriculture . The archaeological and genetic data suggest that long-term bidirectional gene flow between wild and domestic stocks – such as in donkeys , horses , New and Old World camelids, goats, sheep, and pigs – was common. Human selection for domestic traits likely counteracted

22648-532: Was gradual and geographically diffuse – happening in many small steps and spread over a wide area – on the evidence of both archaeology and genetics. It was a process of intermittent trial and error and often resulted in diverging traits and characteristics. Whereas domestication of animals impacted most on the genes that controlled behavior, that of plants impacted most on the genes that controlled morphology (seed size, plant architecture, dispersal mechanisms) and physiology (timing of germination or ripening), as in

22800-482: Was made illegal, as a way of maintaining a competitive element in poultry husbandry. Breed standards were drawn up for egg-laying, meat-type, and purely ornamental birds, aiming for uniformity. Sometimes, poultry shows are part of general livestock shows , and sometimes they are separate events such as the annual "National Championship Show" in the United Kingdom organised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain . Poultry

22952-691: Was so called, because it was built with the "bricks coloured like peacocks' necks". After conquering the Nanda Empire and defeating the Seleucid Empire , the Chandragupta dynasty reigned uncontested during its time. Its royal emblem remained the peacock until Emperor Ashoka changed it to a lion , as seen in the Lion Capital of Ashoka , as well in his edicts . The peacock continued to represent elegance and royalty in India during medieval times; for instance,

23104-548: Was triggered by the climatic and environmental changes that occurred after the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum and which continue to this present day. These changes made obtaining food by hunting and gathering difficult. The first animal to be domesticated was the dog at least 15,000 years ago. The Younger Dryas 12,900 years ago was a period of intense cold and aridity that put pressure on humans to intensify their foraging strategies but did not favour agriculture. By

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