Sri Lankan junglefowl

The Sri Lankan junglefowl is the national bird of Sri Lanka.

Uniquely complex anti-predator behaviors and foraging strategies are integral components in the long evolutionary story of the Sri Lankan junglefowl.

The Sri Lankan junglefowl is most closely related to the grey junglefowl, though physically the male resembles the red junglefowl.

In particular, the juveniles of land crabs are also highly important to the growth and survivability of the juvenile and subadult Sri Lankan junglefowl.

Like the Grey and green junglefowl, male Sri Lankan junglefowl play an active role in nest protection and chick rearing.

Like the green junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl are island species that have evolved side by side with their similarly stranded island predators and competitors.

The specific name of the Sri Lankan junglefowl commemorates the French aristocrat Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette.

As with other junglefowl, the Sri Lankan junglefowl is strongly sexually dimorphic: the male is much larger than the female, with more vivid plumage and a highly exaggerated wattle and comb.

Sri Lankan junglefowl are unique amongst the junglefowl in the brevity of their incubation, which may be as short as twenty days as contrasted with the 21-26 days of the green junglefowl.

The Sri Lankan junglefowl (Gallus lafayettii), also known as the Ceylon junglefowl, is a member of the Galliformes bird order which is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is the national bird.

Some phylogenetic studies of junglefowl show that this species is more closely related to the Sri Lankan junglefowl Gallus lafayetii than to the red junglefowl, Gallus gallus but another study shows a more ambiguous position due to hybridization.