Chicken

"Gallus gallus" popularly known as "chicken" is a type of domestic fowl. This type of bird is believed to be a descendant of the wild Indian and south-east Asian Red Jungle fowl. Chickens are the most popular domestic animals. They are essentially domesticated by humans for their eggs and meat.

This bird has great significance in many religions across the world, like Hinduism, Christianity, Jewism, etc. In ancient Greece, the chicken was considered to be an exotic animal and wasn’t regularly sacrificed.According to varied Central European folk tales, the devil goes away at the very first crowing of a rooster. The chicken is also one of the twelve Zodiac symbols of the Chinese Calender.

These birds were spread across the world by Polynesian seafarers, who brought them to the shores of Easter Islands around the 12th century AD. They then reached the Asian continent through the islands of Indonesia, travelling as cargo onboard trading boats. From there, they further spread to western Asia and then on to Europe.

The first-ever recorded images of chickens were found around the 7th century B.C. on Corinthian pottery. Paintings and designs of chickens are also known to have featured on Greek red figure and black-figure pottery. Throughout the course of history, chicken have become as popular as domestic animals as well as revered as religious symbols. Numerous artifacts such as bowls and egg holders in various shapes and designs of the chicken are now manufactured the world over.