WEBVTT - How Rare Are All-Black Chickens?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren vocal Bomb here. It's not often that

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<v Speaker 1>you look at an animal and think, I bet all

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<v Speaker 1>the goth kids wish they had a chicken like that.

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<v Speaker 1>Meet the Ayam Chamani, the Peter Murphy or Robert Smith

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<v Speaker 1>or Lydia Diets or Darth Vader of chickens, pick your

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<v Speaker 1>pop culture reference. All visible parts of this chicken's exterior feathers, beak, tongue, comb,

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<v Speaker 1>and talons are black, and it would seem as if

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<v Speaker 1>the darkness should end there, but not so. It's inky

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<v Speaker 1>exterior is just a teaser for the darkness within. It

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<v Speaker 1>turns out the bones, organs, and muscles of the i

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<v Speaker 1>M Chamani are all black as well, which, in addition

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<v Speaker 1>to their rarity, explains why these birds are so popular

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<v Speaker 1>amongst chicken aficionados. They're also dubbed the Lamborghini of poultry

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<v Speaker 1>because the going price for these guys can range between

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred dollars for a single egg layer hen and

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<v Speaker 1>five thousand dollars for a full grown mating pair. Native

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<v Speaker 1>to the Indonesian island of Java, the i Am Chimani

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<v Speaker 1>has been used in rituals and kept as status pets

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<v Speaker 1>by the elite. Four centuries they were thought to have black,

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<v Speaker 1>enchanted blood that could lift curses or heal ailments, and

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<v Speaker 1>strangely enough, the blood is one of the only obviously

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<v Speaker 1>normally pigmented things about these birds, aside from their cream

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<v Speaker 1>colored eggs. But when you look at an i Am chamani,

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<v Speaker 1>the superstitions around its being magicals seem completely rational, because

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<v Speaker 1>this chicken is gorgeous in the sunlight. Their plumage isn't

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<v Speaker 1>matte black like a charcoal briquette, It's iridescent like a

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<v Speaker 1>Hubble telescope rendering of a nebula in deep space. Like

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<v Speaker 1>looking into the most hypnotic oil covered petal in the

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<v Speaker 1>mall parking lot. These chickens are complete knockouts. But why

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<v Speaker 1>what could possibly cause a chicken's flesh and bones to

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<v Speaker 1>appear to have been pickled? In India ink. It turns

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<v Speaker 1>out i Am Chimani is the world's most extreme example

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<v Speaker 1>of a condition called dermal hyperpigmentation or fibro melanosis. Three

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<v Speaker 1>other chicken varieties have this condition to varying degrees. The

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<v Speaker 1>silky bantam, the Vietnamese kamong and the Swedish swart Juna,

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<v Speaker 1>and I couldn't find pronunciations on those last two. I

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<v Speaker 1>hope I didn't butcher them too terribly. Research published revealed

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<v Speaker 1>that this genetic condition causes strange behavior in chicken embryos.

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<v Speaker 1>Precursors to melanocytes, which are the cells that produce the

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<v Speaker 1>pigment melanin, the same pigment that gives our human hair, eyes,

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<v Speaker 1>and skin dark color. Usually, the precursors to melanocytes in

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<v Speaker 1>chicken embryos wind up in just the skin and eyes

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<v Speaker 1>of the developing birds, But in chickens with fibro melanosis,

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<v Speaker 1>those precursors travel throughout all the tissues of the embryo,

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<v Speaker 1>and what's more, they don't shut down at the usual stage. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>they continue to multiply, creating way more melanocytes than usual,

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<v Speaker 1>which leads to the hyperpigmentation that we see in these

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<v Speaker 1>birds once they hatch. Strangely enough, scientists believe that the

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<v Speaker 1>mutation that leads to fibro mellanosis and chickens is so

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<v Speaker 1>unusual that it most likely happened only once in a

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<v Speaker 1>single bird that lived thousands of years ago. No one

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<v Speaker 1>knows how the gene transfers to the globe from one

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<v Speaker 1>jet black Bird, but Marco Polo wrote in twelve about

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<v Speaker 1>black boned chickens while he was traveling in Asia, so

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<v Speaker 1>the gene probably made its way around the world via

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<v Speaker 1>trade roots. Interestingly, even though the flesh of the i

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<v Speaker 1>Am Chamani looks strange, it reportedly tastes just like chicken.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was by Jescelin Shields and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How

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