Role of the Rooster – Father, Lover, Brother, Food-finder, Guardian, Sentinel
Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org

FROM Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns
July 2020

The goal of correcting our perceptions about chickens would not be complete without describing the role of the rooster and discovering what amazing creatures roosters truly are.

Rooster Kukkuta - read The Rescue of Kukkuta and the Rooster Dilemma

Article as posted on Vegan India...

What is the role of the rooster is a question that people often ask. Previously, we have had articles by Dr. Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns explain about the “hen” as a symbol of “motherhood” and elucidate very admirable and interesting facts about baby chickens. The goal of correcting our perceptions about chickens would not be complete without describing the role of the rooster and discovering what amazing creatures roosters truly are.

This week’s article by Dr. Davis is on the inner lives of roosters based on years of her staying in close proximity with them. Her fond anecdotes about them make at least one thing clear – the role of roosters on Earth is to simply be themselves! We urge readers to note how contrasting life is for roosters who are forced to fight cockfighting matches in many places of India, still! Alas, that’s the only context in which we have some information, albeit skewed information, about roosters.

The family role of the rooster is nowadays less well known to most people than the motherhood of the hen. The charm of seeing a rooster with his hens appears in Chaucer’s portrait of Chanticleer in The Canterbury Tales:

This cock had in his princely sway and measure
Seven hens to satisfy his every pleasure,
Who were his sisters and his sweethearts true,
Each wonderfully like him in her hue,
Of whom the fairest-feathered throat to see
Was fair Dame Partlet. Courteous was she,
Discreet, and always acted debonairly.

Image by RitaE from Pixabay

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE (PDF)

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