About the Red Junglefowl
The red junglefowl is perhaps the most influential bird in human history — it is the wild ancestor of the domestic chicken, from which 33 billion individuals currently alive on the planet descend. A magnificently plumaged bird of forest edges and thickets, the male red junglefowl is far more beautiful than any domestic rooster, with metallic golden-orange hackles, iridescent green-black tail feathers, and a vivid red comb and wattles.
Red junglefowl inhabit forest edges, bamboo thickets, and grassland margins across India's forests. They are omnivores, scratching through leaf litter for seeds, insects, and small invertebrates. The domestication of red junglefowl from South and Southeast Asian jungle populations approximately 8,000 years ago — originally for cockfighting, then for egg and meat production — changed human civilisation by providing the world's most important source of animal protein. In national parks, red junglefowl are commonly seen along forest roads, often with domestic chickens interbred in areas near villages.