Chukar Partridge
Alectoris chukar
Resident
Found at Neolithic WF16
The Chukar Partridge inhabits rocky slopes dotted with vegetation but can sometimes be found in semi-deserts that have begun agricultural development. It is a resident in Wadi Faynan, mostly along the slopes of the various wadis in the region and particularly within Wadi Dana.
The Chukar has a long history in the region, being hunted as a source of food between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago in the Neolithic. Images of Chukar Partridges also decorate the palaces of the early Islamic caliphs, with a row of the birds depicted above the caliph in a fresco at Qasr Amra in Jordan and 80 sculptures in a caliph’s reception room at Khirbat al-Mafjar, near Jericho.
A leg bone of a Chukar Partridge found at WF16
![Chukar Partridge](http://faynanheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Chukar-Partridge.jpg)
Image credit: ‘Chukar Partridge’ by Volttĕch Soukup via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.