The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes

of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl[1] that are originally from
Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult male bird, and a younger male may
be called a cockerel. A male that has been castrated is a capon. An adult female bird is called
a hen and a sexually immature female is called a pullet. Humans now keep chickens primarily
as a source of food (consuming both their meat and eggs) and as pets. Traditionally they were
also bred for cockfighting, which is still practiced in some places.

Chickens are one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a total
population of 23.7 billion as of 2018,[2] up from more than 19 billion in 2011. There are more
chickens in the world than any other bird. There are numerous cultural references to chickens
– in myth, folklore and religion, and in language and literature.[citation needed]

Genetic studies have pointed to multiple maternal origin theories of within South Asia,
Southeast Asia, and East Asia,[3] but the clade found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East
and Africa originated from the Indian subcontinent. From ancient India, the chicken spread to
the Eastern Mediterranean. They appear in Egypt in the mid-15th century BC, with the "bird
that gives birth every day" having come from the land between Syria and Shinar, Babylonia,
according to the annals of Thutmose III.[4][5][6] They are known in Greece from the 5th
century BC.[7][8]

In 2011 a study in genetic and archaeological[9] evidence conclude that the origin of the
modern-day chicken is from Southeast Asia.