The Red Junglefowl - Gallus gallus - is a member of the pheasant family. They are thought to be ancestors of the domestic chicken. The Red Junglefowl was first raised in captivity at least several thousand years ago. They were first domesticated in Asia. The domesticated form has been used all around the world as a very productive food source for both meat and eggs.

The range of the true species stretches from north east India, eastwards across southern China and down into Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. 

Males are larger than females with large red fleshy wattles and comb. They have long, bright gold and bronze feathers forming a "shawl" or "cape" over the back of the bird from the neck to the lower back. The tail is composed of long, arching feathers that initially look black but shimmer with blue, purple and green in good light. The tail is carried horizontally. The female's plumage is drab and is typical of this family of birds in being designed for camouflage. The female alone looks after the eggs and chicks. She also has no fleshy wattles or comb on the head.

During their mating season, the male birds announce their presence with the well known "cock-a-doodle-doo" call. This serves both to attract potential mates and to make other male birds in the area aware of the risk of fighting a breeding competitor. The lower leg just behind and above the foot has a long spur for just this purpose. Their call structure is complex and they have distinctive alarm calls for aerial and ground predators to which others react appropriately.

They are omnivorous and feed on insects, seeds and fruits including those that are cultivated such as those of the oil palm. They use their feet to scratch away leaf litter and peck at tit bits hidden underneath. To thrive, these birds need good ground-level cover to hide and feed in. Some have been observed feeding on insects flushed out by the movements of larger animals.

Red Junglefowl males are territorial and maintain a harem of 3-5 females. Including juveniles, the group can be as many as 20. The male performs courtship rituals to attract a female, such as a food-related display called 'tidbitting', performed upon finding food in the presence of a female. The display is composed of coaxing, cluck-like calls and eye-catching bobbing and twitching motions of the head and neck. During the performance, the male repeatedly picks up and drops the food item with his beak. The display usually ends when the hen takes the food item either from the ground or directly from the male’s beak and is associated with copulations. She builds a nest by scraping out a hollow on the ground in a dense thicket of vegetation and lays 5-6 beige to pale reddish brown eggs. She incubates the eggs alone. These hatch in about three weeks. The downy buff-coloured chicks can run around and follow their mother in a few hours. She keeps them close to cover until they are well grown. They fledge in about 12 days.

The Red junglefowl is listed as 'Endangered." They are not only affected by habitat loss but also by poaching and interbreeding with domesticated chickens.