Farm Tour
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Species Hierarchy 
Scentific name: GALLUS HYBRID


Species Info:

The white color will help identify this lifeform. This lifeform is only found domesticated. This lifeform is grown commercially for human food.

Domestic chicken comes in a variety of forms. Because the chicken has been domesticated for over five thousand years (India 3200 B.C.), it is difficult to ascertain the precise ancestors of each of the various breeds. However, several different wild species are involved in some of the breeds. The Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus) of southeast Asia is considered to be the ancestor of most forms.

Chickens are useful for both egg laying and meat production. Listed below are some of the categories and the advantage of each category:

       Leghorns(White, Blacks, & Browns)     Egg Production
       La Bresse                             Meat
       Wyandottes                            Egg and Meat
       Rhode Island Red                      Winter Eggs
       Sussex                                Meat
       Rock                                  Pretty & Eggs
       Orpington                             Breeding
       Faverolles                            Meat
       Game                                  Meat
       Dorkings                              Meat

Pheasant Subfamily (Family Phasianidae) contains the true
pheasants, chickens, and Peafowls.

Fowl group (Galliformes order) contains the various chickens and turkey-like birds of the world. There are about 240 different species of fowl known. Many of the wild species are endangered. Several species such as the domesticated chicken and turkey are main food sources in the world. Most fowl are grain eaters and spend a good portion of their life searching for food on the ground. Select species have been domesticated for their beauty and/or edibility, others are considered good game birds.

Aves contains about 8,650 different species of living birds known to science. Each year about one new species is discovered in some remote rain forest or remote island. In addition, scientists have been raising many subspecies to full species status which may raise the species count to 10,000.

However, each year about one species goes extinct. The rate of extinction is increasing, and the rate of new discovery is decreasing, so that the number of bird species will soon begin to decline rapidly. Although different taxonomists would organize the birds differently, there are approximately twenty-seven orders of birds. These orders are broken down into about one hundred and fifty-five different families.

Recent research of the genetic structure of some of the shore birds and owls would indicate that the present organization of orders and families should have some modification.

The birds are a worldwide group of animals that are characterized by having the front limbs modified into wings that are used for flying. Perhaps the most unique feature of the birds is the feathers. These feathers are made up of a central support called a quill and a series of small filaments that are hooked together as barbs.

For many years it was believed that Archaeopteryx discovered in Bavaria was the oldest bird from about 150 million years ago.  However, in l986, Sankar Chattterjee, a Texas paleontologist, reportedly discovered a bird in the genus Protoavis that lived about 225 million years ago.





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