1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vocal Bomb here. It's not often that 3 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: you look at an animal and think, I bet all 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: the goth kids wish they had a chicken like that. 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: Meet the Ayam Chamani, the Peter Murphy or Robert Smith 6 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:22,760 Speaker 1: or Lydia Diets or Darth Vader of chickens, pick your 7 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: pop culture reference. All visible parts of this chicken's exterior feathers, beak, tongue, comb, 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: and talons are black, and it would seem as if 9 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,240 Speaker 1: the darkness should end there, but not so. It's inky 10 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,479 Speaker 1: exterior is just a teaser for the darkness within. It 11 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: turns out the bones, organs, and muscles of the i 12 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: M Chamani are all black as well, which, in addition 13 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 1: to their rarity, explains why these birds are so popular 14 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: amongst chicken aficionados. They're also dubbed the Lamborghini of poultry 15 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: because the going price for these guys can range between 16 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: two hundred dollars for a single egg layer hen and 17 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars for a full grown mating pair. Native 18 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: to the Indonesian island of Java, the i Am Chimani 19 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: has been used in rituals and kept as status pets 20 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,839 Speaker 1: by the elite. Four centuries they were thought to have black, 21 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: enchanted blood that could lift curses or heal ailments, and 22 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: strangely enough, the blood is one of the only obviously 23 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: normally pigmented things about these birds, aside from their cream 24 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: colored eggs. But when you look at an i Am chamani, 25 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: the superstitions around its being magicals seem completely rational, because 26 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,559 Speaker 1: this chicken is gorgeous in the sunlight. Their plumage isn't 27 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: matte black like a charcoal briquette, It's iridescent like a 28 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: Hubble telescope rendering of a nebula in deep space. Like 29 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: looking into the most hypnotic oil covered petal in the 30 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: mall parking lot. These chickens are complete knockouts. But why 31 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: what could possibly cause a chicken's flesh and bones to 32 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: appear to have been pickled? In India ink. It turns 33 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: out i Am Chimani is the world's most extreme example 34 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: of a condition called dermal hyperpigmentation or fibro melanosis. Three 35 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: other chicken varieties have this condition to varying degrees. The 36 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 1: silky bantam, the Vietnamese kamong and the Swedish swart Juna, 37 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: and I couldn't find pronunciations on those last two. I 38 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 1: hope I didn't butcher them too terribly. Research published revealed 39 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 1: that this genetic condition causes strange behavior in chicken embryos. 40 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: Precursors to melanocytes, which are the cells that produce the 41 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: pigment melanin, the same pigment that gives our human hair, eyes, 42 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: and skin dark color. Usually, the precursors to melanocytes in 43 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: chicken embryos wind up in just the skin and eyes 44 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: of the developing birds, But in chickens with fibro melanosis, 45 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: those precursors travel throughout all the tissues of the embryo, 46 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: and what's more, they don't shut down at the usual stage. Instead, 47 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: they continue to multiply, creating way more melanocytes than usual, 48 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: which leads to the hyperpigmentation that we see in these 49 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: birds once they hatch. Strangely enough, scientists believe that the 50 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: mutation that leads to fibro mellanosis and chickens is so 51 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: unusual that it most likely happened only once in a 52 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: single bird that lived thousands of years ago. No one 53 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: knows how the gene transfers to the globe from one 54 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: jet black Bird, but Marco Polo wrote in twelve about 55 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: black boned chickens while he was traveling in Asia, so 56 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 1: the gene probably made its way around the world via 57 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: trade roots. Interestingly, even though the flesh of the i 58 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: Am Chamani looks strange, it reportedly tastes just like chicken. 59 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: Today's episode was by Jescelin Shields and produced by Tyler Clang. 60 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How 61 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. 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