It’s not like they would actually go extinct entirely, they would just evolve in a different direction and have much smaller populations. There are wild bovines, turkeys, swines, etc. If chickens were cut loose to live in the wild, they could probably do alright for themselves, but you might see other traits favored than maximum egg-laying capacity or rapid growth that only serves to maximize farmer profit by reducing the time to be able to sell them off, for example. Local populations would likely collapse until they reached a more stable level, too, given they would have more limited food available, absent someone constantly feeding them.
Except they wouldn’t evolve in a different direction and have smaller populations, at least not in any useful amount of time.
Left to their own devices livestock will multiply, and multiply, and multiply. Show me a vegan and I’ll show you someone that’s never had to deal with wild fucking pigs.
It’s not like they would actually go extinct entirely, they would just evolve in a different direction and have much smaller populations. There are wild bovines, turkeys, swines, etc. If chickens were cut loose to live in the wild, they could probably do alright for themselves, but you might see other traits favored than maximum egg-laying capacity or rapid growth that only serves to maximize farmer profit by reducing the time to be able to sell them off, for example. Local populations would likely collapse until they reached a more stable level, too, given they would have more limited food available, absent someone constantly feeding them.
Expecting them to evolve isn’t realistic. Evolution isn’t magic; it takes many generations. These aren’t fruit flies.
Most farm animals are invasive species and it would be highly irresponsible to cut them loose.
Except they wouldn’t evolve in a different direction and have smaller populations, at least not in any useful amount of time.
Left to their own devices livestock will multiply, and multiply, and multiply. Show me a vegan and I’ll show you someone that’s never had to deal with wild fucking pigs.