Medieval Fasting Led to Chickens' Domestication, New Study Says
Here's an interesting trivia: chickens used to be ferocious when approached by man and were tamed by a religious practice. This was what British researchers learned in studying the fowl's changing behavior throughout the centuries. The study suggests that increased consumption by humans led to chickens' reduced aggression.
Chickens were domesticated as early as 6,000 years ago, and the fowls had since acquired a number of traits, including the ability to lay eggs faster and decreased fear of humans. However, it wasn't known when and why these traits were acquired. Scientists at King's College may have found the answers.
By studying the DNA of discarded medieval chicken bones, they determined that the fowls manifested a tamer demeanor at around 1,000 A.D. when monks banned meat at fasting in favor of chicken and eggs. "With our new method, we see that the time of selection coincides with an increase in the amount of chicken bones in the archaeological records across Northern Europe," said Dr. Anders Eriksson, lecturer at the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics.
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"Intriguingly, they also coincide with several socio-cultural changes, including a general increase in the popularity of Christian beliefs, new religious dietary rules and increase in urbanization, favoring traits that mean that animals could be kept in small spaces," he added.
Researchers noted that the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor or the gene that reduces aggression and enables eggs to be laid faster developed in chickens around 920 A.D. At that time, Benedictine monks banned red meat during fasting and only allowed eating chicken and eggs.
The findings are the latest to establish a link between food and fasting. A connection was first found in fish. It is acknowledged that the "no meat Friday" rule among Catholics has boosted the demand for fish. The practice was taken after the belief that Christ died on a Friday which made warm-blooded animals less palatable on that day.
