Ayam Cemani

Short answer: The Ayam Cemani is a rare chicken breed from the island of Java in Indonesia. In Indonesian, 'ayam' means chicken, and the Javanese word 'cemani' means thoroughly black.

The breed has probably been kept since the 12th century for religious and mystical purposes. It was described by Dutch colonial settlers, and Dutch breeder Jan Steverink first imported it to Europe in 1998. The breed standard calls for black feathers, beak, tongue, comb and wattles, and even the meat, internal organs and bones are black or gray. Roosters weigh about 2 to 2.5 kg and hens 1.5 to 2 kg. The color comes from fibromelanosis, a dominant trait in which pigment cells spread into the skin, connective tissue and organs. In 2011, a team led by Leif Andersson traced it to a complex rearrangement on chromosome 20 that duplicates the endothelin 3 gene (EDN3). Extra EDN3 activity drives the growth of melanocytes, the pigment cells. Silkie chickens, Korea's Ogye and India's Kadaknath share the same mutation, and a 2017 genome study comparing Cemani and Silkie concluded that it arose once and spread among breeds. The pigment doesn't reach the blood, which is red as in any chicken, despite a popular myth. The footage shows a row of glossy black birds on a perch and black hens with chicks in straw.