The colour of domestication and the designer chicken |
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| Authors: | Andrew Sheppy |
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| Institution: | 1. Past-President Linnean Society, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK;2. School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK;3. Thermofluids Group, Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Brunel Institute for Bioengineering, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK;4. Thermofluids Group, Institution of Mechanical Engineers and School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK;1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China;2. Department of Physics and Center for Biomedical Research, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, USA;1. International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Trojdena 4, 02-109 Warsaw, Poland;2. Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland;1. Dipartimento DIVET, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy;2. IBBA – CNR, Cascina Codazza, 26800 Lodi, Italy;3. PTP – CeRSA, Cascina Codazza, 26800 Lodi, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Colour is an important feature of most living organisms. In the wild, colour has great significance affecting the survival and reproductive success of the species. The environmental constraints which lead to the specific colours of birds and animals are very strong and individuals of novel colours tend not to survive. Under domestication, mankind has transformed all the species involved which have thus been freed from environmental pressures to a large extent. Early colour variants were mostly selected for utility reasons or religious practices. In more recent centuries colour varieties have been created purely for ornament and pleasure, fashion playing a surprisingly large part in their development. A bewildering array of colours and patterns can now be found in all our commensal species, especially the Domestic Fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus). |
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