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Growing Home - The Humble Chicken's Globe Trotting Past

The humble chicken has a globe-trotting past. Archaeologists trace its earliest bones to China around 5400 BC, with domestication taking hold in India by 2000 BC. From there chickens made their way into Europe and Africa. Long assumed to have reached the Americas with the Spanish explorers, newer finds show chickens roamed South America centuries earlier, likely thanks to Polynesian voyagers. Among the domesticated animals, the chicken is exceptionally widespread, serving dual purposes as a valuable source of both eggs and meat.