Grey Junglefowl
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| Grey Junglefowl | ||||||||||||||
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 Painting by John Gould
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| Gallus sonneratii Temminck, 1813 |
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 Actual spot records and presumed distribution
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The Grey Junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii), also known as Sonnerat's Junglefowl, is a wild relative of domestic fowl found in India.
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[edit] Description
The male has a black cape with ochre spots and the body plumage on a gray ground colour is finely patterned. The elongated neck feathers are dark and end in a small, hard, yellowish plate; this peculiar structure making them popular for making high-grade artificial flies.[2] The legs are red and the wattles and combs are not as strongly developed as in the Red Junglefowl. Legs of males have spurs and females usually lack them.[3] The central tail feathers are long and sickle shaped. Males have an eclipse plumage in which they moult their colourful neck feathers in summer during or after the breeding season.[4] The female is duller and has black and white streaking on the underparts and yellow legs. They are found in thickets, on the forest floor and open scrub. Their loud calls of Ku-kayak-kyuk-kyuk can be heard in the early mornings and at dusk. They forage in small mixed or single sex groups. They breed from February to May.[5] They lay 4 to 7 eggs which are pale creamy in a scrape. Eggs hatch in about 21 days. Although mostly seen on the ground, Grey Junglefowl fly into trees to escape predators and to roost. 
Call of male (help·info) Other calls (help·info) calls (help·info) They feed on grains including bamboo seeds, berries, insects and termites.
The species epithet commemorates the French explorer Pierre Sonnerat. Local names include Komri in Rajasthan, Geera kur or Parda komri in Gondi, Jangli Murghi in Hindi, Raan kombdi in Marathi, Kattu Kozhi in Tamil and Malayalam, Kaadu koli in Kannada and Tella adavi kodi in Telugu.[6]
[edit] Distribution
The species is mainly in the Indian Peninsula but extends into Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and south Rajasthan. This species and the Red Junglefowl overlap slightly along the northern boundary of the distribution[5] although the ranges are largely non-overlapping. Some geneticists suggest that the bird may have been crossbred with the Red Junglefowl to form the modern domesticated chicken.[7]
[edit] Evolution and status
The Grey Junglefowl is found mostly in Peninsular India, while the Red Junglefowl is found more along the foothills of the Himalayas. A region of overlap occurs in the Aravalli range. The species has been isolated by a variety of mechanisms including behavioural differences and genic incompatibility.[8] Some phylogenetic studies of Junglefowl show that this species is more closely related to the Ceylon Junglefowl Gallus lafayetii than to the Red Junglefowl, Gallus gallus[9] but another study shows a more ambiguous position due to hybridization.[10] An endogenous retroviral DNA sequence, of the EAV-HP group noted in domestic fowl is also found in the genome of this species pointing to the early integration of the virus DNA into the genome of Gallus.[11]
A study in southern India found a density of 19.8 groups per square kilometer (but ranging from 1.67 to 34.42 in dry deciduous forests on plains) with an average group size of 1.3. The male to female ratio was 1:1.2 and the preferred habitat was low to moderate canopied forest with low or no grass cover.[12]
They are threatened by hunting for food and habitat loss. Feather use in fly-fishing has also been suggested as a threat.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). Gallus sonneratii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
- ^ US Fish and Wildlife Identification Notes [1] Accessed October 2006
- ^ Editors (1954): Occurrence of spurs in the female Junglefowl (Gallus sonnerati). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 52(2-3):603-604.
- ^ Morejohn, G. V. 1968. Study of the plumage of the four species of the genus Gallus gallus. The Condor, 70:56-65
- ^ a b Rasmussen PC & JC Anderton (2005) Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2 Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. page 132.
- ^ Anonymous (1998). "Vernacular Names of the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent" (PDF). Buceros 3 (1): 53-109. http://www.bnhsenvis.nic.in/pdf/vol%203%20(1).pdf.
- ^ Eriksson J, Larson G, Gunnarsson U, Bed'hom B, Tixier-Boichard M, et al. (2008) Identification of the Yellow Skin Gene Reveals a Hybrid Origin of the Domestic Chicken. PLoS Genet January 23, 2008 Full text.
- ^ Morejohn, G. Victor(1968) Breakdown of Isolation Mechanisms in Two Species of Captive Junglefowl (Gallus gallus and Gallus sonneratii) Evolution 22(3):576-582
- ^ Akishinonomiya Fumihito, Tetsuo Miyake, Masaru Takada, Ryosuke Shingut, Toshinori Endo, Takashi Gojobori, Norio Kondo, And Susumu Ohno (1996) Monophyletic origin and unique dispersal patterns of domestic fowls. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:6792-6795 [2]
- ^ Nishibori, M. ; Shimogiri, T. ; Hayashi, T. ; Yasue, H. (2005) Molecular evidence for hybridization of species in the genus Gallus except for Gallus varius. Animal Genetics. 36(5):367-375
- ^ Sacci, MA; K Howes & K Venugopal (2001) Intact EAV-HP endogenous retrovirus in Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl. Journal of Virology 75(4):2029-2032 PDF
- ^ Sathyakumar, S (2006) Habitat use by Grey Junglefowl Gallus sonneratii Temminck at Mundanthurai Plateau, Tamil Nadu. Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 103(1):57-61
- ^ Wayre,P (1976) Sonnerat's - a junglefowl threatened by fishermen. Newsl. for Birdwatchers 16(5):1-3.
