I read a very interesting book - "Chicken Conquers the World". In recent years, there has been a popular way of writing world history, which is to use a certain item to connect the history of the world, such as cotton, silver, spices, porcelain, etc., but I never thought that it could be written using chickens, and it is also very interesting. .
The reason why I can’t think of it is because chickens are so common that people ignore their importance to humans. Chickens are the most numerous birds on earth, with more than 20 billion. The second largest number seems to be a sparrow-like bird, with 2 billion, which is an order of magnitude lower. There is only one country and one continent on earth without chickens, the Vatican and Antarctica. Chicken is often on the pope's menu in the Vatican, but the Vatican is so small that there's really no room for chickens. Antarctica is to strictly control the spread of avian diseases to penguins.
Chickens and eggs have become an important part of human food security. During the bird flu period, the rising prices of chickens and eggs triggered demonstrations in many countries around the world. Cats and dogs may be closer to us in our daily lives, but if cats, dogs, and chickens disappeared from the earth at the same time, it would be the disappearance of chickens that would cause more serious consequences.
Chicken is a perfect source of human protein. There is a term in the breeding industry called feed-to-meat ratio, which is the ratio of feed eaten to meat grown. Of course, different breeds and feeds will have different results. Below is the rough data. The feed-to-meat ratio of cattle is 6:1, which is why beef is expensive and why the increase in beef consumption has a greater impact on the environment. The ratio of pig to mutton is about 3:1, while that of chicken is less than 2:1, so chicken is the cheapest meat. If you consider the ability of chickens to continuously produce eggs, their contribution to human protein is simply too great.
Chickens also contribute a lot to the proliferation of humans on this planet. The wild breed of chicken before it was domesticated was called red jungle fowl. It lived in Southeast Asia and is still alive today. It is very beautiful. However, experts say that there are almost no purebred wild red jungle fowls anymore because red jungle fowls live close to humans and the gene pool has been destroyed. Invaded by domestic chickens.
After the red jungle fowl was domesticated, it began to spread around the world. During trade and war, domestic chickens first came to Persia (today’s Iran and Iraq), and later to Egypt during the war between Egypt and Persia. Then they spread to the African continent and to Europe via the Mediterranean. The spread to Eurasia and Africa is easy to understand, as they are all on the continent, but the spread to Oceania, North and South America further highlights the important role of chickens in human reproduction.
You can look at the world map. Domestic chickens first came to the Indonesian Islands from Southeast Asia. This step was relatively easy. Then it took a long time before they came to Australia in the south and gradually spread to the Micronesia in the west. The Nicaean Islands and the Polynesian Islands spread from the Polynesian Islands north to Hawaii and east to South America. So many islands must be discovered little by little. Archaeological evidence shows that chickens are the companions who accompany humans in constantly discovering new places to live. Chickens are indeed good partners for maritime exploration. On the mainland, people can drive cattle, sheep, and pigs to distant places. However, our ancestors in the Pacific could only explore distant places in canoes. Chickens occupy a small and light area. It also has the important skill of laying eggs, and it is easy to reproduce. It is really a good baby that helps humans settle down quickly.
Chickens have also left their mark on the history of human civilization. At the beginning of domestication, chickens were used not only to provide protein, but also as religious relics, totems, sacrificial supplies, and divination tools. The habit of roosters crowing before dawn is easily associated with sun worship for the ancients. As soon as the rooster crows, the sun comes out. In particular, Persia once worshiped the god of providing light, ancient Egypt once had the sun god as its main god, and Japan also had the sun god, so it is not surprising that chickens had a sacred status in many countries and regions at that time. Scholars even believe that the crown with uneven spires that originated in Persia is an imitation of a cockcomb. Think about it, it is really like that.
The custom of cockfighting has been found all over the world. It is still very popular in places like the Philippines and Indonesia. Scholars believe that this is also a trace left by traditional religion. The rooster does give people a majestic feeling. Many ethnic groups regard the rooster as a symbol of masculinity. For example, French men proudly compare themselves to the Gallic rooster.
This cultural phenomenon has a biological basis. According to research, the genes of chickens are very similar to those of Tyrannosaurus rex, indicating that chickens are the descendants of the dinosaurs that ruled the earth. No wonder the big rooster looks so big. He looked arrogant and arrogant. And the cock gives the impression of strong sexual function. It is said that US President Coolidge and his wife once visited the same chicken farm. During the visit, the wife noticed a rooster that was constantly mating. The people at the chicken farm told her that the roosters mated more than ten times a day. Mrs. Coolidge Calm instructions: When Mr. President comes to visit, please be sure to tell him about this. Later, Coolidge also came. When he heard about this situation, he asked: Does that rooster mate with the same hen every time? The answer was no, so the president said to the messenger: Please tell Madam about this too.
Because of this, in many languages, male sexual organs are related to chickens. I don’t need to explain the specific explanation. But the embarrassing thing is that the rooster actually does not have a penis. Like the hen, it only has a cloaca. I wonder what French men will think when they find out.
Through observation, biologists found that rooster embryos have penises in the first ten days of development, but a protein appeared on the tenth day. This protein is related to the rooster's beautiful feathers, but the side effect is that it causes the penis. It’s been gone since the tenth day! It’s really like “if you want to practice magical skills, you must first commit suicide in the palace”!
Today, chickens are more important to humans than at any time in history, but ironically, today we are increasingly unfamiliar with chickens. When I was a child, I could often see chickens even in the city. Today, when I take my children to the countryside and see chickens, they quickly point and say: “Did you see that? This is a chicken!”
When I was a child, I could only buy live chickens, and if I wanted to eat chickens, I had to kill them myself. When killing chickens, we usually do it in the bathroom. My father is holding the chicken wings, and I am responsible for grabbing the chicken legs. My father will pull off the hair on the chicken's neck and quickly cut the chicken's trachea and carotid artery. But during this process, the chicken would kick its legs with great strength. If I was afraid that my hands would be weak, it would be in trouble. My father and I quickly threw the chicken away and left the bathroom. When it was quiet inside, we went in to take a look. Chicken feathers, bloodstains everywhere...
In the end, the chicken turned into a delicacy. Chicken blood stir-fried with leeks or garlic sprouts, chicken offal stir-fried with peppers, and chicken braised in braised chicken were the delicacies in my memories. But after that struggle, I still had mixed feelings when eating chicken. It’s not that I feel sympathy or guilt or anything like that, the food still tastes delicious, but I do feel a sense of reverence for the food. After all, this table of delicious food was a living thing in my hands just an hour ago.
Today’s children will not have such a feeling, because the chickens they buy home are washed and peeled, and even the chicken breasts and drumsticks are cut into parts. Children may even know what a live chicken looks like. Blurred. We enjoy the protein provided by chickens, but we don’t know what they go through before being served to the table.
Chickens may be one of the saddest creatures today. Humans will do anything to get enough chickens. Roosters, which were regarded as gods back then, have become waste today. After the chicks hatch, the rooster chicks are selected and directly crushed into feed. The fate of the surviving female chicks is not so good. As broiler chickens, they will mature and be slaughtered after forty or fifty days. During this period, they only saw the sun twice, once from the brood farm to the breeding farm, and once from the breeding farm to the slaughterhouse. During this period, they never slept under the strong light, and they kept sleeping. Eat food and grow meat. Fragile bones cannot support the rapidly growing weight, and many broiler chickens are unable to stand.
The chicken conquered the world, but locked itself in a cage.
Is this fortunate or unfortunate for us as a species?