A junglefowl endemic to Sri Lanka that forages on the ground in forest and scrub. Males and females differ markedly in plumage.
The male is red to orange-yellow, with a red comb with a yellow centre and metallic blue-black tail. The female is brown with black wavy markings and pale bars and streaks.
Sri Lankan Junglefowl and Indian Peafowl share Kumana National Park. Both are ground-dwelling galliforms and may appear in small grassy openings beside forest trails.
Around 07:49 on 18 May 2025, a male Sri Lankan Junglefowl and a female Indian Peafowl were photographed preening one another there. A paper published in 2026 described this opportunistic observation of two wild birds in the national park.
Both birds used their beaks around the other’s head, neck and upper body. No aggression or distress was observed. The interaction lasted about ten minutes before both birds rushed into nearby dense forest, leaving a photographic record of feather care across species.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Bird surveys in Pitakele village beside Sinharaja Forest Reserve during January–March 2018 recorded Sri Lankan Junglefowl more often in multi-layered tree gardens than in tea plots or forest fragments. The study supports conserving the surrounding tree-rich village landscape together with the protected forest.