Araucana

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For the Spanish poem, see La Araucana.
Araucana
FAO (2007): not at risk[1]
Other names
  • Spanish: Gallina Mapuche
  • Mapuche Fowl
  • South American Rumpless
Country of originChile
Distributionworld-wide
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    Large: 2.7–3.2 kg[2]: 44 
    Bantam: 740–850 g[2]: 45 
  • Female:
    Large: 2.2–2.7 kg[2]: 44 
    Bantam: 680–790 g[2]: 45 
Skin colourwhite
Egg colourblue or green[2]: 40 
Comb typepea[2]: 40 
Classification
APAAll other standard breeds[3]
ABAAll other comb clean leg
PCGBSoft feather: light[4]
APSlight breed softfeather
  • Gallus gallus domesticus
    • An Araucana egg (left) with white and brown eggs for comparison.

    The Araucana (Spanish: Gallina Mapuche) is a breed of domestic chicken from Chile. Its name derives from the Araucanía region of Chile where it is believed to have originated. It lays blue-shelled eggs, one of very few breeds that do so.

    lethal genes, so not all birds display these traits. The Ameraucana breed and "Easter egger
    " hybrids of the United States, which also lay blue or green eggs, both derive from the Araucana.

    History

    The early history of the Araucana chicken is not documented. The birds were commonly seen in South America in the early twentieth century.

    aviculturist Salvador Castelló, who visited Chile in 1914, saw them and named them "Gallina Araucana", as many were found among the Mapuche people of the Araucanía region of Chile, whom the Spanish called Araucanos. Castelló believed the birds to belong to a new species, and reported his observations at the First World's Poultry Congress in The Hague in 1921. The systematic name Gallus inauris was proposed for them, and adopted at the Second World's Poultry Congress in Barcelona in 1924.[6] It was later established that the Araucana belongs to the same species as other domestic chickens, Gallus gallus domesticus.[5]
    : 16–17 

    The blue egg of the Araucana was at this time thought to be unique among chickens. In 1933 Reginald Punnett showed that the blue egg ("oocyan") gene in chickens is dominant concerning white, while in combination with genes for brown eggs, various shades of green and olive are produced.[5]: 17 [6] In modern times, the Ameraucana breed, a derivative of the Araucana, also lays blue eggs, while hybrid birds carrying the dominant ocean gene may in the United States be called "Easter eggers".

    Several theories have been advanced to explain the origin of the blue egg characteristic. It has been variously attributed to

    genetic mutation;[9]: 349  and to the action of a retrovirus soon after the domestication of the chicken.[10]

    Blue Araucana eggs were taken to Australia from New Zealand in the 1930s. The breed was standardised in the 1980s.[11]

    Blue-egg chickens from South America were introduced to the British Isles at various times in the early twentieth century. The modern British-type Araucana derives from birds from a Chilean ship that was wrecked in the Hebrides.[12] The British Araucana was developed mainly by George Malcolm in Scotland in the 1930s.[2]: 40 . He introduced the Lavender plumage variety and bred the bantam Araucana in the 1940s.[12] The British-type Araucana was standardised in 1969[11] or 1974.[13]

    In the United States, two breeds were established: the Araucana, which has ear-tufts and is

    Standard of Perfection
    in 1984.

    There has been a long and inconclusive debate about the origin of the Araucana and whether it derives from chickens brought by Europeans after Columbus reached the Americas in 1492, or if it was already present. A report published in 2007 on chicken bones found on the Arauco Peninsula in south-central Chile suggested pre-Columbian, possibly Polynesian, origin.[14] A report published in 2008 found no evidence of pre-Columbian introduction from Polynesia.[15]

    The worldwide conservation status of the Araucana is "not at risk";[16] population data for Chile is not reported.[17]

    Characteristics

    There are both full-sized and

    pea comb and lays approximately 250 blue or green eggs per year.[12]

    In Australia, only the tailed Araucana is recognised in the Australian Poultry Standards;[19] both tailed and rumpless may be exhibited.[11]

    The British standard accepts both tailed and rumpless;[18] they may be treated as separate breeds.[20][21] The British type of Araucana has a beard and muffs which conceal the earlobes.

    In North America, Araucanas have long ear tufts and are rumpless. As both ear tufts and rumplessness are caused by

    autosomal dominant lethal alleles, not all of the birds can display these traits.[22]

    A total of twenty

    Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture.[23] Of these, five are recognised by the American Poultry Association for large fowl: black, black-breasted red, silver duckwing, golden duckwing, and white; for bantams, the buff is added to these.[3] The Australian Poultry Standard recognises black, cuckoo, lavender, splash, white and any colour which is standard in Old English Game.[19] The Poultry Club of Great Britain recognises twelve colours: black, black-red, blue, blue-red, crele, cuckoo, golden duckwing, lavender, pile, silver duckwing, spangled, and white.[2]
    : 43–44 

    References

    1. ISBN 9789251057629
      . Accessed June 2014.
    2. ^
      ISBN 9781405156424
      .
    3. ^ a b APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012. American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017.
    4. ^ Breed Classification. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 17 June 2011.
    5. ^
      ISBN 9789588095561
      .
    6. ^
      S2CID 52805033. Archived from the original
      (PDF) on 20 October 2016.
    7. ISBN 9781429405256
      .
    8. ISBN 9780691085692
      .
    9. ^ Frederick Bruce Hutt (1949). Genetics of the fowl. New York: McGraw-Hill.
    10. PMID 23990950
      .
    11. ^ a b c Breeds In Focus: February 2013 - Araucana. The Rare Poultry Breeders' Association (Australia). Archived 12 June 2013.
    12. ^ a b c Araucana (British type). Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 3 October 2015.
    13. ^ History. The British Araucana Club. Archived 10 July 2016.
    14. PMID 17556540
      .
    15. PMID 18663216
      .
    16. ^ Transboundary breed: Araucana. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed October 2016.
    17. ^ Araucana/Chile. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed October 2016.
    18. ^ a b The Breed Standard. British Araucana Club. Archived 6 February 2013.
    19. ^ a b Australian Poultry Standards, 2nd Edition 2012
    20. ^ Araucana Spitzhauben/United Kingdom. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed October 2016.
    21. ^ Araucana (Rumpless)/United Kingdom. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed October 2016.
    22. PMID 7276512
      .
    23. ^ Liste des races et variétés homologuée dans les pays EE (28.04.2013). Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013.
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