The modern chicken is believed to have been domesticated in Southeast Asia, particularly the Indus Valley, as early as 3200 BC and is believed to be the epicenter of chicken domestication. Another possibility is due to recent evidence from excavations in China which has raised questions regarding exclusive domestication in the Indus Valley. Finding the exact area where the chicken was domesticated is a difficult task due to inconclusiveness and lack of DNA. Michael Zody, a computational biologist studying genetics at Harvard's Broad Institute and MIT, said, "Because wild and domestic birds have mixed over time, it makes it really difficult to pin down the problem." The modern chicken is known to be descended from the red jungle chicken, gray jungle chicken, Lafayetti jungle chicken, and green jungle chicken. The supporting evidence is that the chicken inherited the yellow skin from the gray jungle fowl. It also shares similar traits with the red jungle hen, such as wattles and combs, spurs on the legs for defense, and the chicken and the red jungle hen share similar vocalizations. The domesticated chicken had great cultural significance in the ancient world, and several civilizations considered and still consider the chicken a sacred animal. Because of their aggressiveness, chickens were originally bred for cockfighting rather than for food. In the first century CE, cockfighting was how the ancient Greeks of Pergamon taught courage to future soldiers. Modern chicken is very different from the first chicken, the nutritional intake of the first chickens was modest compared to today's chicken. To this day, chickens are still considered worldwide as a source of food and fertility. In ancient Egypt, chicken eggs were hung at the temple to ensure abundance... middle of paper. browsers, but ours can't do it. All they want is to eat. » (Balducci) In Mali (a place where chicken is still sacred), Western aid workers attempted to replace native chicken that looked very similar to the ancient chicken with Rhode Island Reds. The villagers use the chicken as a fortune teller, they slit the chicken's throat and wait to see if the chicken falls left or right with one side favoring the other no and falling forward means nothing. However, since Westerners brought the Rhode Island Red, the villagers began to use it, and because of the bird's big chest, it always fell forward, which meant nothing other than the dinner. The chicken was once revered in many parts of the ancient world for its aggressiveness and considered a controller of destiny by the Romans. Today, even if it is seen, it is only considered a meal..