Rooster

A rooster, cock or cockerel is a male chicken (Gallus gallus), the female being called a hen. The original term is "cock", from Old English cocc, but this term tends to be avoided these days due to its use in sexual slang. more...

Home
*Best Sellers
Advertising
Animals
Animation Art, Characters
Arcade, Jukeboxes & Pinball
Autographs
Banks, Registers & Vending
Barware
Bottles & Insulators
Breweriana, Beer
Casino
Clocks
Comics
Cultures, Ethnicities
Decorative Collectibles
Disneyana
Fantasy, Mythical & Magic
Furniture, Appliances & Fans
Historical Memorabilia
Holiday, Seasonal
Housewares & Kitchenware
Bakelite
Depression glass
Iron
Kitchen
Retro
Rooster
Knives, Swords & Blades
Lamps, Lighting
Linens, Fabric & Textiles
Metalware
Militaria
Most Popular
Pens & Writing Instruments
Pez, Keychains, Promo...
Photographic Images
Pinbacks, Nodders,...
Postcards & Paper
Radio, Phonograph, TV, Phone
Religions, Spirituality
Rocks, Fossils, Minerals
Science Fiction
Science, Medical
Tobacciana
Tools, Hardware & Locks
Trading Cards
Transportation
Vanity, Perfume & Shaving
Vintage Sewing
Wholesale Lots

It is replaced by euphemisms: "cockerel" (which properly refers to a young male chicken) in Britain, and "rooster" (a relative neologism) in North America and Australia. "Roosting" is the action of perching aloft to sleep at night, and is actually done by both sexes.

The cock is non-monogamous, but cannot guard several nests of eggs at once. He guards the general area where his hens are nesting, and will attack other roosters who enter his territory. During the daytime, he often sits on a high perch, usually 4–5 feet off the ground, to serve as a lookout for his flock. He will sound a distinctive alarm call if predators are nearby. In a recent USDA study, researchers decided that the crow of the rooster in the morning may have long term effects on the hearing of infants, whose ears are not yet accustomed to such sounds.

Crowing

The rooster is often (accurately) pictured in art as crowing at the break of dawn. He can often be seen sitting on fence posts or other objects, where he crows to proclaim his territory. However, when a cock looks into the sun he will crow at any time of the day - even sometimes on a bright moonlit night. He has several other calls as well, and can cluck the same as a hen.

Cocks generally tend to wail when they are distressed or in heat. The sound made by the cock is spelled onomatopœically as "cock-a-doodle-do" in English, but otherwise in some other languages, such as: Arabic kookookoo-koo, Bulgarian кукуригу (kukurigu), Catalan Co-co-ro-co, Chinese goh-geh-goh-goh, Croatian ku-ku-ri-ku Czech kykyrikí, Danish kykeliky, Dutch kukeleku, Esperanto kokeriko, Estonian kukeleegu or kikerikii, Faroese kakkulárakó, Filipino Tik-ti-la-ok, Finnish kukkokiekuu, French cocorico, German kikeriki, Greek kikiriku, Gujarati kuk-de-kuk, Hebrew ku-ku-ri-ku, Hindustani kuk-roo-koon or kuk-roo-kroon, Hungarian kukurikú, Indonesian kukuruyuk, Italian chicchirichì, Japanese ko-ke kokkoh, Korean k'ok'iyo, Lithuanian ka-ka-rie-ku, Latvian ki-ke-ri-gū, Norwegian kykkeliky, Persian ququliqu, Polish kukuryku, Portuguese Có có ró có, Romanian cucurigu, Russian ку-ка-ре-ку (ku-ka-rye-ku), Sanskrit काक (kāka), Serbian ku-ku-ri-ku, Slovak kikirikí,Slovene kikiriki, Spanish qui-qui-ri-qui', Swahili KokoRikoo koo, Swedish kuckeliku, Tamil ko-ka-ra-ko, Thai yeki-yeki-yek, Turkish üü-ürü-üüü, Urdu kuk roo kroon, and Vietnamese ò-ó-o-o.

Cultural references

The Talmud refers to learning "courtesy from the rooster" (eruvin 100b). This reference may be attributed to the behaviour of a cock when he finds something good to eat: he calls his flock to eat first. This call is distinct from regular clucking or crowing. While giving this call, he will repeatedly pick up a morsel of food and drop it again to attract the attention of the hens. A mother hen uses a similar call and action to teach her chicks to feed. At another place in the Talmud (תלמוד בבלי מסכת ביצה דף ז עמוד א) it is said about the rooster: " Everything that fulfils its task at daytime, is born at daytime - this is the rooster". ... And again at another place in the Talmud (תלמוד בבלי מסכת ברכות דף ז עמוד א) the rooster is seen as an indicator of the short moment in the day where God could be angry and would permit the cursing of a person by another: " And when is he angry? - Abaye says: In those first three hours of the day, when the comb of the cock is white and it stands on one foot. Why, in each hour it stands thus? - In each hour it has red streaks, but in this moment it has no red streaks at all." (However, this does not seem to apply to actual biology, because a cock's comb does not change color in the morning. It might be a literary hyperbole intended to say that God does not permit cursing others, since the moment described does not actually exist. And indeed, this next story supports that view):

Read more at Wikipedia.org