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THE ORIGINS OF CHICKENS....



The chicken (Gallus domesticus) was domesticated in southern Asia at least
4,000 years ago from a parental stock of one or more species of jungle fowl
(principally G. gallus). 

Chickens did not arrive in the Western Hemisphere until the arrival of the
Spanish.  All breeds of chickens in the New World can be accounted for as
originating from Old World stock.  There is actually a chicken genome
mapping project going on in Great Britain which uses data to improve
chicken breeding.  You can use your browser's search capabilities to look
up the numerous sites related to raising chickens.  The genome project
actually has mitochondrial DNA cataloged for chickens and can trace all
known breeds back to Gallus domesticus.  I think they refer to the first
chicken as big bird or the mother of all chickens to paraphrase Sadam
Hussein. So much for speculation.

Ain't science neat?  Of course O.J. Simpson's lawyers might say the
evidence was tainted by early chicken thieves who stole chickens from
ancient Asia, packed them in Polynesian canoes which were made out of
coconut trees (They also used coconuts as flotation devices).  Once the
chicken thieves arrived in the New World they opened a chain of Pollo
Dorado take outs which served french fries and imported yams as sides.  To
improve their business they brought along a Shang scribe to print take out
menus.  To teach the illiterate locals to read the menus, the scribe
introduced the arts of reading and writing.  Writing enabled local
restaurant critics to write about this amazing new take out chain and the
locals to read about it.  To pay for the chicken dinners, the locals were
forced to develop an economy.  Cities spung up around the Pollo Dorados,
thus leading to the major New World civilizations.  

As a Mesoamerican scholar I have no problem with this.  Makes sense to me.

Paul Pettennude

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