Green Junglefowl, Gallus variusimage credit: jimmonroe.smugmug.com

Green Junglefowl, Gallus variusimage credit: animalworld.tumblr.com, BxExAxTxE.

Green Junglefowl, Gallus variusimage credit: featherwarriorgamefarm.blogspot.com

 

Green Junglefowl, Gallus variusimage credit: travel.mongabay.com

Green Junglefowl, Gallus variusimage credit: perrywildlifephotography.com

Habitat: endemic to Java, Bali, Lombok, Komodo, Flores, Rinca
Status: Least Concern

Who knew chickens could be so cool? The colorful comb (top part) and wattle (bottom part) of the Green Junglefowl (Gallus varius) is so gorgeous! Actually, the bird isn’t exactly a chicken – it’s in the pheasant family. That explains it. Pheasants are so pretty and interesting looking (remember this post on them)?

You’ll find Green Junglefowl in pairs/groups of two to five in the wild led by a dominant male who leads the pack, so to speak. At night he’ll lead the rest of his troop back into the cover of the forest where the birds nest in bamboo stands at 15–20 feet above the forest floor.

Aren’t the feathers (in addition to the comb/wattle, of course) just amazing?

Green Junglefowl, Gallus varius feathersimage credit: lab.fws.gov