Gallus lafayettii
Silhouette: Caleb M. Gordon · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The Sri Lankan junglefowl (Gallus lafayettii), also known as the Ceylon junglefowl or Lafayette's junglefowl, is a member of the Galliformes bird order. It is a common endemic bird in Sri Lanka, where it is the national bird. It is closely related to the red junglefowl (G. gallus), the wild junglefowl from which the chicken was domesticated. However, it is even more closely related to the gray junglefowl. Sri Lankan junglefowl and red junglefowl diverged about 2.8 million years ago, whereas time of divergence between the Sri Lankan junglefowl and grey junglefowl was 1.8 million years ago.
Evidence of introgressive hybridization from Sri Lanka junglefowl has also been established in domestic chicken. The specific name of the Sri Lankan junglefowl commemorates the French aristocrat Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette (1757–1834).
As with other junglefowl, the Sri Lankan junglefowl is strongly sexually dimorphic; the male is much larger than the female, with more vivid plumage and a highly exaggerated wattle and comb. The male Sri Lankan junglefowl ranges from 66–72 cm (26–28 in) in length and 790–1,140 g (1.74–2.51 lb) in weight, essentially resembling a large... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Kyiv Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 3 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 4 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 5 | National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Avifauna | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Sri Lanka Junglefowl sighting in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, based on 256 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 38th most-seen of the 166 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and December
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Sri Lanka Junglefowl in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, against about 30% in July, September and November, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sri Lanka Junglefowl sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Sri Lanka Junglefowl sightings, Udawalawe National Park ranks 5th at about 40%. The best odds are in Wilpattu National Park (Sri Lanka, about 80%), Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 70%) and Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sri Lanka Junglefowl is recorded against all the birds logged in Udawalawe National Park (256 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
