How did the chicken cross the road? If it’s a modern breed, probably not by flying. But chickens haven’t always been so grounded.
Our domesticated birds are mainly descended from red junglefowl, native to India and South-East Asia, where they’re capable of small flights and near-vertical lift off into trees, to escape predators and to roost.
Yet in the 8,000 years since humans began rearing chickens for food, the selective pressures became less about escaping predators, and more about our gastronomic predilections.
Breeding for fat thighs and large breast muscles have added so much extra bulk that many common breeds now struggle to get airborne. That said, smaller breeds like bantams – the featherweights of the chicken coop – can still escape many a low fence. The current world record for chicken flight is 13 seconds, with the longest distancing a whopping 92m. That’s one giant leap for chicken kind!