page_title: Bekisar
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Bekisar / History / Development
caption_attribution_description: Gallus cf. æneus = Gallus varius (Shaw, 1798) ♂ × Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758) ♀ English: Ayam Bekisar (æneus-type), adult male
context_page_description: The Bekisar, or Ayam Bekisar, is the first generation hybrid offspring of the green junglefowl and domesticated red junglefowl from Java. The roosters have a glossy blackish green plumage and are highly prized for their loud clear calls and striking colouration, while the hens are usually dull and infertile.
  Bekisars were traditionally used by the original inhabitants of the Sunda Islands as symbolic or spiritual mascots on outrigger canoes, and consequently spread over a wide area. The original hybrids are rarely fertile, but backcrosses with domestic chicken are sometimes achieved and thus several landraces of Pacific chickens have some Bekisar ancestry. While the hybrid is only of historical interest in most regions, on Java it is still being produced as a more stereotyped breed with several local varieties, known as Ayam Bekisar.
context_section_description: The progeny were used for communication between canoes. Each rooster has a unique voice, due to its hybrid ancestry. A rooster would be selected for its unusual voice, and hoisted up the mast of the canoe in a special bamboo basket. From their elevated baskets the roosters crowed incessantly in prolonged shrieking matches. The calls combine the prolonged notes of the green junglefowl with the added volume of domestic fowl, whose wild ancestors' voices had to be heard through dense vegetation. The Bekisar's voice can often be heard for two miles over the sea. The seafaring cultures took to keeping these male Bekisars on their canoes at all times.
caption: æneus-type Ayam Bekisar
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