Red junglefowl

Gallus gallus

The main wild ancestor of domestic chickens, with males bearing a red comb, wattles, and long arched tail feathers.

Key facts

Red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is an omnivore animal classified as Bird · Galliformes · Phasianidae.
Primary habitats are forest · grassland · urban, with a range across Indomalayan · Australasian.
Activity is diurnal, sociality is loose group, and conservation status is LC (Least Concern).
The main wild ancestor of domestic chickens, with males bearing a red comb, wattles, and long arched tail feathers.
Lives in tropical forest, bamboo, secondary woodland, forest edges, and farmland margins with cover near feeding areas.

Habitat range map

Native rangeOccasional / Transient

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Lives in tropical forest, bamboo, secondary woodland, forest edges, and farmland margins with cover near feeding areas.

Males have a red comb and wattles, golden to red hackles, and green-black tail feathers. Females are cryptic brown.

Small groups walk on the ground and roost in trees at dusk. Males crow early and signal dominance or territory.

Seeds, fruit, shoots, insects, earthworms, and small invertebrates are eaten.

Females lay in hidden ground nests. Precocial chicks follow the hen and forage soon after hatching.

Wild-type birds are threatened locally by hybridization with domestic chickens, making intact forest populations important.