B30
Skin specimen of red junglefowl

The red junglefowl is a wild bird belonging to Phasianidae. This bird is widely distributed in southern China, Indochina Peninsula, Malay Peninsula and islands of Indonesia. The red junglefowl has been proved to be a wild species of poultry chickens. Around the world, domestic chickens were produced and improved from this species. The body weight is usually 1kg in male, and 600g or less in female. The male has beautiful appearance with orange and metallic green feathers, like this specimen. On the other hand, the female have quiet brown spotted feathers. They lay about ten eggs for one year, and have a strict territory. These biological characteristics are not suitable for food productive poultry. Therefore, it has been speculated that the human have improved repeatedly wild-fowls to produce poultry chickens. This valuable skin specimen was collected and stuffed when the research team of the University Museum of the University of Tokyo explored the northern Laos. It shows the typical appearance of the red junglefowl populations in the northern Indochina. Because the species lives in wide area, we can expect that the bird is different in the form, the size, the color of feather and the habit by the region. However, the result of the comparative study has remained unclear. The research team of the University Museum of the University of Tokyo investigates the domestication history of the fowl at that region.　(Hideki Endo & Mayu Kusumi)