2001.05.22.

Miniature Sheet

First Day Cover:

6 stamps

Printing: Lithography
Paper: Chancelloe Stamps Paper 102 gsm
Stamp size: 31.75 x 48.25 mm
Perforation: 14 per 2cm
Designs: Male and female of the Gallus Gallus species
Stamp Format: Landscape
Designer: Mr. George Bennett
Author: Dick Watling Ph.D
Printer: WalSall Security Printers Ltd

The Red Jungle Fowl Gallus Gallus is native to mainland South East Asia and the islands of Sumatra and Java. However, over a period of several thousand years, it has been introduced to and become naturalised on many islands and countries around the world including Fiji and much of Oceania.

Archaeological evidence shows that it was early Pacific human colonists who brought the Jungle Fowl with them on some of their first voyages over 3,000 years ago. On these voyages the Jungle Fowl was joined by the pig, the dog and the Pacific rat. Jungle Fowls were clearly able to do well in their new homes and reverted to the wild on many islands.

The first Europeans in the Pacific, such as the naturalists on Magellan's, Tasman's and Cook's Expeditions all commented on the Jungle Fowl, either domestic or wild, which they observed to play an important role in the culture of Polynesians who valued them for their feathers, sacrificial purposes, cockfighting and food.

After about 1840 as European voyages to the Pacific increased, so too did the introduction of domestic fowl from Europe and these have readily interbred with the established populations of Jungle Fowls. It is now generally considered that all the original populations have been modified morphologically and genetically by interbreeding with the European fowl, and all those now in the wild are to a greater or lesser degree, hybrids that tend to revert to their ancestral form. This is especially so of the cocks where the wild form with its beautiful iridescent, multi-coloured plumage of the hen is more variable and commonly shows traces of domestic fowl.

In Fiji, the Jungle Fowl was once common on Viti Levu and Vanua Levu but on these islands has been driven to extinction by the Small Indian Mongoose Herpestes auropunctatus, which was introduced in the 1870's. Jungle Fowl lay their eggs in well-concealed nests on the ground, but they do not escape the attention of a cunning predator such as the Mongoose, which eat the eggs and may even attack sitting females. The chicks are vulnerable in the days after hatching, but they are soon able to fly strongly enough to fly up and hide in thick foliage, out of harm's way.

Elsewhere the Jungle Fowl occurs, and on some islands is common, on many of the larger and medium-sized islands. Some communities such as those of Koro, Vanua Balavu, Kabara and Vatulele are especially proud of their populations of Jungle Fowl or Toaniveikau.

Jungle Fowl inhabit mature forest, scrub and thick reed breaks, but their favoured habitat is disturbed secondary forest where they feed on any fruits, insects or seeds and grains. Jungle Fowl are normally shy birds, however, the cocks are strongly territorial and advertise their territories with their characteristic crowing call which resound through the forests in areas where they occur and are the surest indication of their presence. The strong aggressive instinct of the cocks allows them to be decoyed to a trap by the presence of semi-domesticated cocks tethered in suitable locations. Trapping Jungle Fowl was a traditional pastime on many Fijian islands and elaborate methods were devised, but knowledge of these is dying out as they involve great patience and expert knowledge of the behaviour of the Jungle Fowl.

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