“To a know a dinosaur, you must first know a chicken.”
These common farmyard birds, developed from Asian junglefowl around 8,000 years ago, show many of the same characteristics of the prehistoric creatures they are descended from. They strut about on two legs, have plumage, scaled, robust clawed feet, are warm-blooded, and lay eggs, They are intelligent, social, and gregarious. It’s ironic that we, members of the mammal group, eat them now, whereas the opposite was true many millions of years ago. Chickens still have a dinosaur ferocity about them; YouTube videos show them attacking and eating snakes and even mice.
Over the years, as the versatile fowl spread around the world, many different breeds were developed. The poster above shows some of them. Breeds also go in and out of style; some rarer or forgotten breeds are undergoing a renaissance among backyard chicken keepers and hobbyists. Names given to these breeds are fanciful, often reflecting places of origin or physical characteristics. One such breed, the Leghorn, even gave its name to the immortal Warner Brothers cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn, who desplays the characteristics of the breed: White feathers, yellow beak and legs, and a red serrated crest — what most people would think of when you say the word “chicken.”
Below are names for breeds which never existed, but might have.
Obscure Chicken Breeds
| Royal Harlequin
Three-toed Corncracker Wattled Gypsy Sudanese Nodding Hen Flowerfoot Earless Blue Dusseldorf Brown Furrowhead Gripoone Korean Splittail Sprintzel Ransruffle Phoenician Fighting Cock |
Amish Snowy
Golden Sharpshin Strawberry Sultan Puffbill Highlands Rondelle Kentucky Hills Scratcher Eastern Moslad Luego Finnish Greyhelm Sprecha di Morga Santa Isela Kokakee Mormon Spotted |
