Chickens strut their stuff in beauty contests

These chickens know how to strike a pose! And not just for the camera, they can also work a runway pretty well too.

In Malaysia, these birds are the stars of chicken beauty contests with prizes worth thousands of dollars. With such sums at stake, the chickens, known as Ayam Serama, are highly valued and well-kept by their owners.

Their supermodel poses have been captured by visual artist Ernest Goh and turned into a book, Chickens, which is available to buy online.

Ernest’s fascination with the natural world began as a boy at his grandmother’s rural kampung – a Malaysian village – in Singapore, wading in streams looking for fish and jumping into bushes searching for spiders. He now uses his skills to share the stories of animals, culture, and communities.

Ernest told us: “The natural world is full of lesser-known species of animals and their stories. Sharing these stories is important if we want more people to care about the natural world.”

When it comes to capturing the personality of these chickens so well, he says: “I am only the person clicking the shutter on the camera, the rest comes from the amazing character of the chicken themselves!”

We love them and we love that Malaysians prize their poultry so highly!