- Aug 16, 2013
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Shamoid/Malayoid birds can do just as well as Bankivoids in terms of doing well under primitive rearing conditions, though they prefer more of a grassland environment than the dense forest needed by the Bankivoids. There have been many theories through the years that the Malayoid birds have a different ancestor, due to their vast anatomical differences.These look like a variant of the Aseel or Asil out of Pakistan and India. Despite the Aseel / Asil form being reputed as older, I think the bankovid type, that is closer to what the first domesticated chickens looked like, is actually older. I find it difficult to comprehend how an animal like the current oriental gamefowl could be developed first during domestication to then give rise to bankovid type games that resemble much more closely the the hybrid Red Jungle Fowl x Grey Jungle Fowl from which all chickens are derived.
This is the bankovid type I keep, which unfortunately for purposes of comparison does not represent the same color variant of your example. Bankovid gamefowl station / orientation of body closer to horizontal, feathers more showy, stronger flight potential, lack of attributes suited to long duration combat under high heat conditions. Rearing conditions for these I think less closely managed relative to what is typical for the Aseel / Asil. Those rearing or cultural differences may have been sustained for far longer than chickens have been beyond their center of origin.
I think the bankovid gamefowl where better suited for poultry keepers where the technology was less developed, especially during periods of dispersal. The bankovids also played the greater role in development of western chicken breeds with later admixture of the oriental breeds.
The bankivids, like the Oriental gamefowl are extremely variable in terms of coloration.
More in depth DNA research is forthcoming, with a wider sampling base. DNA research might not be entirely reliable as it is doubtful that there are any viable samples of a wild red jungle fowl, a bird that is more of an enigma than an actual wild species, having been tainted by domesticated birds for thousands of years, domesticated birds that easily revert to wild red jungle fowl form when feral.
Most viable theories put the Asil origin in Southeast Asia. The birds were obtained by the Persian Empire, then refined over many years. Then introduced to the Indian Subcontinent during the expansion of Islam into the region. We see Turkish Hint Horoz, and Iranian Lari that look very much like the Shamo, which was taken to Japan from Thailand. The resemblance is very present in the large South Indian Asil, and the Bangladeshi birds that gave rise to the much later marketing concept that invented the so called Malay.
But they could have the same common ancestor as the Bankivoids, we see vast anatomical differences in domestic dogs. The middle east has been settled a long time. The people have been skilled breeders since very ancient times, passing down breed ideals from one human generation to the next. One has only to look at the beautiful and fancy breeds of sheep, goat and cattle, unlike any other in the world, to see this evidenced. And of course they dominated and revolutionized horse breeding. Not surprising that they have beautiful and fancy chicken breeds. And don't forget the Phoenicians, they scattered seedstock around that part of the world to such an extent that we could probably never unravel the thread of ancestry, even with our modern methods.
