The world's chickens descend from Southeast Asian common ancestors that Australian researchers say were the "great, great grandmothers of the chicken world." Scientists from the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, found the ancient DNA preserved in 48 archaeological chicken bones matches the DNA signature present in bones from Europe, Thailand, the Pacific, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Spanish colonial sites in Florida. It has been a challenge to determine the ancient origin and dispersal of chickens, domesticated at least 5,400 years ago, as almost all civilizations were involved in carrying them around the globe, researchers said. "What we found is that one of the sequences in the different chicken bones was very similar over a wide geographic area," researcher Alison Story told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "This tells us that the chickens that we found in archaeological sites all over the world shared an ancient ancestor who was domesticated somewhere in southeast Asia a long time ago," she said. "All of our domestic chickens are descended from a few hens that I like to think of as the 'great, great grandmothers' of the chicken world," Story said. The findings also give clues to the history of human migrations, the researchers wrote in the journal PLos One. "Understanding when chickens were transported out of domestication centers and the directions in which they were moved provides information about prehistoric migration, trade routes, and cross-cultural diffusion," they said.
GMT 14:31 2018 Friday ,19 January
Amazon narrows list of 'HQ2' candidates to 20GMT 13:18 2018 Thursday ,18 January
China to step up cryptocurrency crackdownGMT 12:30 2018 Sunday ,14 January
Japan's new crypto-currency crooners sing the bitcoin beatsGMT 13:49 2018 Friday ,12 January
Top European chefs take electric pulse fishing off the menuGMT 11:32 2018 Tuesday ,09 January
Apple urged to shield kids from iPhone addictionGMT 17:27 2017 Tuesday ,19 December
Scientists confirm 3.5 billion-yr-old fossil life in rockGMT 08:31 2017 Friday ,21 July
Samsung heiress ordered to pay $7.6 millionGMT 13:20 2017 Saturday ,29 April
SpaceX to launch classified US govt payload SundayMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor