The annals of Ancient Egyptian king Thutmose III described a marvelous foreign bird that “gives birth daily.” Zoroastrians viewed them as spirits whose cries told of the cosmic struggle between darkness and light. Romans brought them on their military campaigns to foretell the success of future battles. And today, this bird still occupies an important, though much less honorable position – on our dinner plates.
古老埃及國王 圖特摩斯三世的記錄中 描述有一種神奇的外國鳥類 「每天都會生育」。 祆教徒把牠們視為是神靈, 牠們的叫聲訴說的是宇宙中 光明與黑暗之間的鬥爭。 羅馬人把牠們帶到軍隊戰役中, 預示未來戰爭的成功。 現今,這種鳥仍然有著重要, 不過完全沒那麼榮耀的地位—— 我們的晚餐餐盤中的食物。
The modern chicken is descended primarily from the Red Junglefowl, and partially from three other closely related species, all native to India and Southeast Asia. The region’s bamboo plants produce massive amounts of fruit just once every few decades. Junglefowls’ ability to lay eggs daily may have evolved to take advantage of these rare feasts, increasing their population when food was abundant. This was something humans could exploit on a consistent basis, and the birds’ weak flight capabilities and limited need for space made them easy to capture and contain.
現代的雞主要是原雞的後代, 有一部分是來自三種 其他很接近的物種, 原生地都在印度和東南亞。 該區域的竹類植物 會產出大量的水果, 幾十年一次。 原雞能夠每天下蛋的能力, 可能是演化的結果, 以善用這些難得出現的盛宴, 在食物豐足時增加牠們的數量。 這是人類可以持續利用的特性, 且這種鳥的飛行能力很弱, 對空間的需求有限, 讓牠們容易被捕捉和圈養。
The earliest domesticated chickens, dating at least back to 7,000 years ago, weren’t bred for food, but for something considered less savory today. The aggressiveness of breeding males, armed with natural leg spurs, made cockfighting a popular entertainment.
最早被馴養的雞, 至少可追溯到七千年前, 繁殖的目的不是食物, 而是現在看來實在 不怎麼美味的目的。 繁殖用的公雞很有侵略性, 雞距(刺)是牠們的天然武器, 讓鬥雞成為非常熱門的娛樂活動。
By the second millennium BCE, chickens had spread from the Indus Valley to China and the Middle East to occupy royal menageries and to be used in religious rituals. But it was in Egypt where the next chapter in the bird’s history began.
到了西元前兩千年, 雞已經從印度河流域 傳播到中國以及中東, 被放在皇家動物園中, 用在宗教儀式中。 但這種鳥類的歷史新頁, 是在埃及開始的。
When a hen naturally incubates eggs, she will stop laying new ones and sit on a “clutch” of 6 or more eggs for 21 days. By the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, the Egyptians had learned to artificially incubate chicken eggs by placing them in baskets over hot ashes. That freed up hens to continue laying daily, and what had been a royal delicacy or religious offering became a common meal. Around the same time as Egyptians were incubating eggs, Phoenician merchants introduced chickens to Europe, where they quickly became an essential part of European livestock.
在自然的狀況下, 當母雞在孵蛋時, 她會停止生出新的蛋, 坐在一「窩」至少六個蛋上 長達二十一天。 到了西元前一千年中期, 埃及人學會了用人工方式孵雞蛋, 把蛋放在熱灰燼上的一個籃子裡。 這麼一來,母雞就能 繼續每天生蛋, 而過去的皇家佳餚或是宗教祭品 就變成了一般人的膳食。 和埃及人孵蛋差不多同時期, 腓尼基商人把雞引進歐洲, 牠們很快就成為歐洲人 重要的家畜之一。
However, for a long time, the chicken’s revered status continued to exist alongside its culinary one. The Ancient Greeks used fighting roosters as inspirational examples for young soldiers. The Romans consulted chickens as oracles. And as late as the 7th Century, the chicken was considered a symbol for Christianity.
然而,有很長一段時間, 雞仍然一直有著被尊敬的地位, 同時又是烹飪的食物。 古希臘人用公雞 作為鼓舞年輕士兵的典範。 羅馬人把雞當作先知來請教。 到了第七世紀這麼後期, 雞被當作是基督教的象徵。
Over the next few centuries, chickens accompanied humans wherever they went, spreading throughout the world through trade, conquest, and colonization. After the Opium Wars, Chinese breeds were brought to England and crossed with local chickens. This gave rise to a phenomenon called “Hen Fever” or “The Fancy”, with farmers all over Europe striving to breed new varieties with particular combinations of traits. This trend also caught the attention of a certain Charles Darwin, who wondered if a similar selective breeding process occurred in nature. Darwin would observe hundreds of chickens while finalizing his historic work introducing the theory of Evolution.
在接下來的幾個世紀, 不論人到哪裡,都一定帶著雞, 透過貿易、征戰、以及殖民, 雞被散播到全世界。 鴉片戰爭之後, 中國的品種被帶到英國, 和當地的雞雜交。 這造成了一種現象的產生: 「母雞熱」或「迷戀」, 也就是全歐洲的農夫 都努力想要育出 有特定特徵組合的新品種。 這股風潮引起了 達爾文的注意,他很納悶, 大自然中是否有發生 類似的天擇性育種過程。 達爾文觀察了數百種雞, 當時他快要完成了他的歷史壯舉: 提出進化論。
But the chicken’s greatest contribution to science was yet to come. In the early 20th century, a trio of British scientists conducted extensive crossbreeding of chickens, building on Gregor Mendel’s studies of genetic inheritance. With their high genetic diversity, many distinct traits, and only 7 months between generations, chickens were the perfect subject. This work resulted in the famous Punnett Square, used to show the genotypes that would result from breeding a given pairing.
但雞對於科學 最大的貢獻還在後頭。 在二十世紀初, 有三位英國科學家 針對雞進行了大量的雜交繁育, 以孟德爾對於 基因遺傳的研究為基礎。 雞的基因多樣性非常高, 又有許多明顯的特徵, 且七個月就是一個世代, 牠們成了完美的研究對象。 這項研究導致了著名的旁氏表, 用來顯示用已知的配對來做育種 會產生出的基因型。
Since then, numerous breeding initiatives have made chickens bigger and meatier, and allowed them to lay more eggs than ever. Meanwhile, chicken production has shifted to an industrial, factory-like model, with birds raised in spaces with a footprint no larger than a sheet of paper. And while there’s been a shift towards free-range farming due to animal rights and environmental concerns, most of the world’s more than 22 billion chickens today are factory farmed.
從那之後,數個繁殖計畫 讓雞變得更大、更多肉, 也讓牠們比以前更會下蛋。 同時,雞的生產也轉變為一種 類似工廠的工業模型, 養雞的空間極小, 足跡不會超出一張紙的範圍。 雖然後來因為動物權利 以及環境考量, 轉變為自由牧場飼養的模型, 現今世界上有超過 220 億隻雞 都是工廠飼養的。
From gladiators and gifts to the gods, to traveling companions and research subjects, chickens have played many roles over the centuries. And though they may not have come before the proverbial egg, chickens’ fascinating history tells us a great deal about our own.
從角鬥士及給神的禮物, 到旅行伴侶和研究對象, 數世紀來,雞扮演過許多角色。 雖然不見得是諺語說的 先有雞才有蛋, 但雞的迷人歷史能讓我們 更了解我們自己的歷史。