The last common ancestor of humans and domestic chickens
The last common ancestor of humans (Homo sapiens) and domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) was a very early amniote that lived somewhere in the late Carboniferous or early Permian period — roughly 310–320 million years ago.
It wasn’t a bird or a mammal, but rather a small, reptile-like tetrapod (sometimes called a "stem amniote") from which both Synapsids (the lineage leading to mammals) and Sauropsids (the lineage leading to reptiles, dinosaurs, and birds) descended.
Here’s the breakdown:
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Lineage split:
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Synapsids → early “mammal-like reptiles” → mammals → primates → humans.
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Sauropsids → early reptiles → archosaurs → dinosaurs → birds → chickens.
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Probable candidate groups:
The ancestor would have resembled animals such as Hylonomus or Paleothyris — small, lizard-like insect-eaters living in forests — though these are not the ancestor, just close relatives from the right time.
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