Bekisar
Encyclopedia
The Bekisar, or Ayam Bekisar, is the first generation hybrid offspring of the Green Junglefowl
(Gallus varius) and domesticated Red Junglefowl
from Java (Gallus gallus bankiva). The rooster
s have a glossy blackish green plumage and are highly prized for their loud clear calls and striking colouration, while the hens are usually dull and infertile
.
Bekisars were traditionally used by the original inhabitants of the Sunda Islands
as symbolic or spiritual mascots on outrigger canoe
s, and consequently spread over a wide area. The original hybrids are rarely fertile (and hens are generally sterile
), but backcrosses
with domestic chicken are sometimes achieved and thus several landrace
s of Pacific chickens have some Bekisar ancestry. While the hybrid is only of historical interest in most regions, on Java it is still being produced as a more stereotyped breed with several local varieties, known as Ayam Bekisar.
forest adapted species. Unlike the Red Junglefowl, the ancestor of most domestic chickens, it is adapted for life with little fresh water. During the dry season, and also on arid volcanic islands, the Green Junglefowl gets most of its water from dew in the coastal fog on fruits and insects. It also feeds on aquatic animals washed up on the shores and littoral pools, which Red Junglefowl are unable to do. At low tide, Green Junglefowl forage for starfish, small crabs, copepods and detritus. At high tide they fly to mangrove islets to roost. The far-carrying cries of the male Green Junglefowl can be heard over the breakers, even though their calls' volume is quite low in comparison to that of a domestic fowl or Red Junglefowl.
in the Java Sea
. The native peoples of the Sunda Archipelago learned that they could persuade young, unpaired wild Green Junglefowl males to mate with domestic game hens.
Nearly every new migration of seafaring people brought game fowl (the semi-domestic chickens descended from the Indonesian Red Junglefowl Gallus bankiva) to their new island homes. The Bekisar roosters were also present in sufficient number to significantly impact each island's native base population of feral fowl. An escaped Bekisar was next to impossible to capture. A Bekisar rooster released into a tropical mangrove forested island in Oceania or the South Pacific would easily re-adapt to the wild, as if it were a wild Green Junglefowl.
When competing clans, tribal wars, disease and typhoons extirpated or very nearly exterminated human populations or forced migrations, feral fowl, pig
s and dog
s would often remain on these remote islands. Natural predators such as monitor lizard
s, seabird
s, pythons and other predators would hunt out the feral chickens with the most domesticated traits. Those incapable of flying or running rapidly would not live long enough to reproduce. Those incapable of surviving long periods without fresh water would also perish, and those lacking the appropriate instincts to survive frequent typhoons would also be selected against.
, Ponape
, Marquesas, Rapa
and Rapa Nui, became populated with flocks unique in appearance, not closely resembling either parental form.
When successive migrations of Polynesians
carrying domestic fowl (derived from Red Junglefowl) appeared on these islands, most of the Violaceous traits vanished through genetic swamping, only persisting on the most isolated islands. From these isolated island populations unique breeds have developed, in particular on Ponape
, the Marquesas and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The famous Araucana
hens, named after the Araucanian Indians
of Chile
, are derived from these breeds. These breeds produce tinted blue, grey, lilac and green eggs. The Green Junglefowl is the only species of junglefowl that produces tinted eggs. Nuclear DNA
studies provide evidence that the blue egg gene is derived from ancient Green Junglefowl founder sires.
, a province of Indonesia
. The male is used in East Java
, Bali
and the surrounding islands in popular vocal competitions; this practice has caused the decline of wild Green Junglefowl populations.
Green Junglefowl
The Green Junglefowl, Gallus varius also known as Javan Junglefowl, Forktail or Green Javanese Junglefowl is a medium-sized, up to 75 cm long, bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae...
(Gallus varius) and domesticated Red Junglefowl
Red Junglefowl
The Red Junglefowl is a tropical member of the Pheasant family. They are thought to be ancestors of the domestic chicken with some hybridisation with the Grey Junglefowl...
from Java (Gallus gallus bankiva). The rooster
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
s have a glossy blackish green plumage and are highly prized for their loud clear calls and striking colouration, while the hens are usually dull and infertile
Infertility
Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a person to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term...
.
Bekisars were traditionally used by the original inhabitants of the Sunda Islands
Sunda Islands
The Sunda Islands are a group of islands that form part of the Malay archipelago.They are further divided into the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.-Administration:...
as symbolic or spiritual mascots on outrigger canoe
Outrigger canoe
The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull...
s, and consequently spread over a wide area. The original hybrids are rarely fertile (and hens are generally sterile
Haldane's rule
Haldane's rule or Haldane's law was formulated in 1922 by the British evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane. It describes hybrid sterility in species and is extended to describe speciation in evolutionary theory, in two parts: the rule of hybrid sterility and the rule of hybrid inviability...
), but backcrosses
Backcrossing
Backcrossing is a crossing of a hybrid with one of its parents or an individual genetically similar to its parent, in order to achieve offspring with a genetic identity which is closer to that of the parent...
with domestic chicken are sometimes achieved and thus several landrace
Landrace
A landrace is a local variety of a domesticated animal or plant species which has developed largely by natural processes, by adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives. It differs from a formal breed which has been bred deliberately to conform to a particular standard...
s of Pacific chickens have some Bekisar ancestry. While the hybrid is only of historical interest in most regions, on Java it is still being produced as a more stereotyped breed with several local varieties, known as Ayam Bekisar.
Background
The wild Green Junglefowl is a mangroveMangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
forest adapted species. Unlike the Red Junglefowl, the ancestor of most domestic chickens, it is adapted for life with little fresh water. During the dry season, and also on arid volcanic islands, the Green Junglefowl gets most of its water from dew in the coastal fog on fruits and insects. It also feeds on aquatic animals washed up on the shores and littoral pools, which Red Junglefowl are unable to do. At low tide, Green Junglefowl forage for starfish, small crabs, copepods and detritus. At high tide they fly to mangrove islets to roost. The far-carrying cries of the male Green Junglefowl can be heard over the breakers, even though their calls' volume is quite low in comparison to that of a domestic fowl or Red Junglefowl.
Hybridisation
The practice of hybridisation is so ancient that it is not known precisely where it began. Modern Sundanese and Javanese people claim that it first occurred in the Kangean IslandsKangean Islands
The Kangean Islands form an archipelago part of Indonesia, are located in the Java Sea approximately north of Bali and 120 km east of Madura Island. The islands are administratively a part of Sumenep Regency within East Java province.The largest island, at about 490 km², is Kangean Island...
in the Java Sea
Java Sea
The Java Sea is a large shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf. It was formed as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age. The Java Sea lies between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south; Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east...
. The native peoples of the Sunda Archipelago learned that they could persuade young, unpaired wild Green Junglefowl males to mate with domestic game hens.
Development
The progeny were used for communication between canoes. Each rooster has a unique voice, due to its hybrid ancestry. A rooster would be selected for its unusual voice, and hoisted up the mast of the canoe in a special bamboo basket. From their elevated baskets the roosters crowed incessantly in prolonged shrieking matches. The calls combine the prolonged notes of the Green Junglefowl with the added volume of domestic fowl, whose wild ancestors' voices had to be heard through dense vegetation. The Bekisar's voice can often be heard for two miles over the sea. The seafaring cultures took to keeping these male Bekisars on their canoes at all times.Spread
When the native peoples of Java and the Sunda Islands migrated to Oceania and beyond, they brought with them dogs, pigs, yams, coconuts and chickens. Each migration brought a few dozen semi-domestic game fowl, not unlike those seen today running feral in tropical Asian villages. Anthropologists have provided evidence that only a very few boats in any flotilla carried domestic animals. Each sea-faring vessel would, however, have carried at least two or three cages with Bekisars aboard. The chieftain and warriors may have carried even more Bekisars on each of their vessels.Nearly every new migration of seafaring people brought game fowl (the semi-domestic chickens descended from the Indonesian Red Junglefowl Gallus bankiva) to their new island homes. The Bekisar roosters were also present in sufficient number to significantly impact each island's native base population of feral fowl. An escaped Bekisar was next to impossible to capture. A Bekisar rooster released into a tropical mangrove forested island in Oceania or the South Pacific would easily re-adapt to the wild, as if it were a wild Green Junglefowl.
Establishment of feral populations
Many of the more remote, typhoon-prone islands with very small or failed human colonies are the naturalized homes of wild junglefowl, described as Violaceous Junglefowl by early European naturalists and considered a new species. Backcrossing of many generations of the hybrid Bekisar males with feral domestic game hens must occur before fertile females are produced. Female hybrid offspring of Green Junglefowl crossed with domestic fowl are always sterile, laying eggs which are incapable of being fertilized by either Green or Red Junglefowl, or by domestic fowl. This means that backcrossing would be a common mode of self-perpetuation.When competing clans, tribal wars, disease and typhoons extirpated or very nearly exterminated human populations or forced migrations, feral fowl, pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s and dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s would often remain on these remote islands. Natural predators such as monitor lizard
Monitor lizard
Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...
s, seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s, pythons and other predators would hunt out the feral chickens with the most domesticated traits. Those incapable of flying or running rapidly would not live long enough to reproduce. Those incapable of surviving long periods without fresh water would also perish, and those lacking the appropriate instincts to survive frequent typhoons would also be selected against.
Local adaptation
The Bekisar, with the progeny they generated by interbreeding with feral chickens, have adapted to local conditions. With each successive generation of backcrossing, the odds of a fertile hybrid female increases. At a certain point a genetic equilibrium is reached, and a fresh generation of viable females, capable of reproducing, is produced. Over the long run, some of the more remote islands, such as New CaledoniaNew Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, Ponape
Ponape
Ponape may refer to:*Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia*Ponape , a German sailing ship...
, Marquesas, Rapa
Rapa
-French Polynesia:* Rapa Iti, an island in the southernmost of the Austral Islands of French Polynesia-Poland:* Rapa, Poland, a village in the administrative district of Gmina Banie Mazurskie, in Gołdap County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship-Portugal:...
and Rapa Nui, became populated with flocks unique in appearance, not closely resembling either parental form.
When successive migrations of Polynesians
Polynesians
The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...
carrying domestic fowl (derived from Red Junglefowl) appeared on these islands, most of the Violaceous traits vanished through genetic swamping, only persisting on the most isolated islands. From these isolated island populations unique breeds have developed, in particular on Ponape
Ponape
Ponape may refer to:*Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia*Ponape , a German sailing ship...
, the Marquesas and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The famous Araucana
Araucana
The Araucana, also known in the USA as a South American Rumpless, is a breed of chicken originating in Chile. The Araucana is often confused with other fowl, especially the Ameraucana and Easter Egger chickens, but has several unusual characteristics which distinguish it. They lay blue eggs, have...
hens, named after the Araucanian Indians
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, are derived from these breeds. These breeds produce tinted blue, grey, lilac and green eggs. The Green Junglefowl is the only species of junglefowl that produces tinted eggs. Nuclear DNA
Nuclear DNA
Nuclear DNA, nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid , is DNA contained within a nucleus of eukaryotic organisms. In mammals and vertebrates, nuclear DNA encodes more of the genome than the mitochondrial DNA and is composed of information inherited from two parents, one male, and one female, rather than...
studies provide evidence that the blue egg gene is derived from ancient Green Junglefowl founder sires.
In popular culture
The Bekisar is the faunal symbol of East JavaEast Java
East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...
, a province of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. The male is used in East Java
East Java
East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...
, Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
and the surrounding islands in popular vocal competitions; this practice has caused the decline of wild Green Junglefowl populations.
