Sri Lankan junglefowl: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Sri Lankan junglefowl lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Gallus lafayettii
Group	Pheasants, grouse & game birds
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	Asia
Class	Bird
Order	Galliformes
Family	Phasianidae

Where does the Sri Lankan junglefowl live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Sri Lankan junglefowl in 1 country or territory across Asia. Wikidata lists it as endemic to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the Sri Lankan junglefowl endangered?

The Sri Lankan junglefowl’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Sri Lankan junglefowl?

The Sri Lankan junglefowl (Gallus lafayettii) is a bird in the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae, genus Gallus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Sri Lankan junglefowl

The Sri Lankan junglefowl (Gallus lafayettii), also known as the Ceylon junglefowl or Lafayette's junglefowl, is a member of the Galliformes bird order. It is a common endemic bird in Sri Lanka, where it is the national bird. It is closely related to the red junglefowl (G. gallus), the wild junglefowl from which the chicken was domesticated. However, it is even more closely related to the gray junglefowl. Sri Lankan junglefowl and red junglefowl diverged about 2.8 million years ago, whereas time of divergence between the Sri Lankan junglefowl and grey junglefowl was 1.8 million years ago.

Evidence of introgressive hybridization from Sri Lanka junglefowl has also been established in domestic chicken. The specific name of the Sri Lankan junglefowl commemorates the French aristocrat Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette (1757–1834).

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Sri Lankan junglefowl (revision 1365219793), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q21346306 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).