The Japanese Bantam or Chabo () is a Japanese

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of ornamental

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

. It is a true bantam breed, meaning that it has no large fowl counterpart. It characterised by very short legs – the result of hereditary

chondrodystrophy Chondrodystrophy (literally, "cartilage maldevelopment") refers to a skeletal disorder caused by one of myriad genetic mutations that can affect the development of cartilage. As a very general term, it is only used in the medical literature when ...

– and a large upright tail that reaches much higher than the head of the bird.

History

The origin of the Chabo is unknown.

Mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

evidence suggests that it, and all other Japanese breeds of ornamental chicken, derived through

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

from fighting chickens, the ancestors of the modern Shamo breeds. The earliest recognisable depiction of a Chabo in Japanese art dates from the beginning of the seventeenth century; a short-legged chicken with tall upright tail shown in the ''Portrait of Jacoba Maria van Wassenaer'' by

Jan Steen Jan Havickszoon Steen ( – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour. Life ...

, painted in about 1660, is believed to be a Chabo. Japan was effectively closed to all foreign trade from 1636 until about the time of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

in 1868. The first documented exports of the Chabo to Europe and the United States began at about this time. The Japanese Bantam apparently reached the United Kingdom in the 1860s; it was not included in the first

British poultry standard ''British Poultry Standards'' is a compilation of the breed standards for poultry in the United Kingdom, approved and published by the Poultry Club of Great Britain. The standards themselves are usually drawn up by the individual specialist ...

of William Tegetmeier in 1865, but was described in his ''The Poultry Book'' in 1867. A

breed society Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members ...

, the Japanese Bantam Club, was formed during the Crystal Palace Poultry Show of 1912. In 1937 an international breed club – the International Chabo Bantam Club – was formed at a meeting in Switzerland.

Characteristics

The Chabo has very short legs. This trait is caused by the

creeper gene Creeper chickens are characterised by abnormally short legs, so short that the body is carried a few centimetres from the ground. This chondrodystrophy (dwarfism) is caused by a dominant lethal allele, ''Cp''. A number of breeds display th ...

, ''Cp'', which displays the standard behaviour of

recessive lethal allele Lethal alleles (also referred to as lethal or lethals) are alleles that cause the death of the organism that carries them. They are usually a result of mutations in genes that are essential for growth or development. Lethal alleles can be recessive ...

s: when short-legged birds are bred, 25% of the embryos are

homozygous Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mos ...

for the lethal allele, and die in shell; 50% are

heterozygous Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mos ...

, and develop into short-legged birds; the remaining 25% are homozygous for the non-lethal allele, and develop longer legs, making them unsuitable for showing. Long-legged birds bred to each other can not produce short-legged offspring. In western countries there are many colour varieties of the Japanese Bantam. The

Entente Européenne Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements: History * Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...

lists forty-two, of which twenty-three are recognised, with standardised colours including birchen grey, black, black mottled, black-tailed buff, black-tailed white, blue, blue mottled, blue-red, brown-red, buff Columbian, cuckoo, dark grey, golden duckwing, grey, lavender, Miller's grey, partridge, red, red mottled, silver-grey, tri-coloured, wheaten and white. The

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respons ...

lists nine colours. There are also

frizzle-feathered A frizzle refers to a plumage pattern in domesticated chickens ('' Gallus gallus domesticus'') characterized by feathers that curl outwards, rather than lying flat as in most chickens. The frizzle type is not a separate breed, but a variety withi ...

Silkie The Silkie, also known as the Silky or Chinese silk chicken, is a Chinese breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is soft to the touch, like silk or fur. Other unusual qualities include black skin and bones, blue earlob ...

-feathered and

hen-feathered Hen feathering in cocks is the occurrence of a genetically conditioned character in domestic fowl ('' Gallus gallus domesticus''). Males with this condition develop a female-type plumage, although otherwise look and respond as virile males. Hen-f ...

variations, though not in all colours. In Japan a number of types are recognised. These include the Okina Chabo, which is bearded; two varieties of Higo-Chabo, the Daruma and Taikan, both with an unusually large comb (the Taikan has a normal Chabo tail, while that of the Daruma is shorter and does not usually extend beyond the height of the head); and the Shinguro Chabo or black-skinned black, which is entirely black, with black face, comb, wattles, legs and feet.

History

Characteristics

References

Further reading