Archaeological studies reveal just how much modern broiler chickens differ from their ancestors due to selective breeding by humans.
The top broiler chicken production firm, Tyson Foods, slaughtered an astonishing 35 million chickens in an average week in 2012.
Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash
As studies are increasingly revealing an ongoing decline in wild animal
populations, human and farmed animal populations keep on rising. In fact,
the combined biomass of humans and their domesticated animals now outweighs
that of all wild terrestrial vertebrates. Chickens, particularly, are the
world’s most numerous birds at 22.7 billion, a population growing
exponentially since their estimated domestication about 8000 years ago.
Chicken meat consumption is growing faster than any other type of meat and
will soon overtake pig meat, mainly due to expanding consumption in
developing countries. Efficient and high-volume production is on the agenda
– in the U.S., the top broiler chicken production firm, Tyson Foods,
slaughtered an astonishing 35 million chickens in an average week in 2012.
In this study, a group of scientists from the U.K. and South Africa analyzed
chicken remains from several different epochs to show that the domestic
broiler chicken is a novel morphotype, representing the unprecedented human
reconfiguration of the Earth’s biosphere.
For the entire article, please go to From Wild Jungle Fowl To Monstrous Broiler Chickens.
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