Wild red jungle fowl, progenitors of the modern chicken, crowd a pen near Statesboro, Georgia. Remnants of a population collected in north-central India in the early 1960s, these birds may be the last of their kind—genetically speaking. As humans push farther into the wild bird’s South Asian habitat, the chickens they bring with them interbreed with jungle fowl, polluting their genomes. Photograph by Vincent J. Musi
Pop-upView Separately

Wild red jungle fowl, progenitors of the modern chicken, crowd a pen near Statesboro, Georgia. Remnants of a population collected in north-central India in the early 1960s, these birds may be the last of their kind—genetically speaking. As humans push farther into the wild bird’s South Asian habitat, the chickens they bring with them interbreed with jungle fowl, polluting their genomes.

Photograph by Vincent J. Musi