Fowl

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Fowl may be a mis-spelling of foul (in sports).

Galloanserae
Chickens are a well-known member of this ancient clade
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Subclass: Neornithes Infraclass: Neognathae Superorder: Galloanserae
Orders
Galliformes Anseriformes

Fowl is a term for certain birds often used as food by humans. It includes some poultry such as chickens or turkeys, game birds such as pheasants or partridges, other wildfowl like guineafowl or peafowl, and waterfowl such as ducks or geese.

The birds referred to as "fowl" belong to one of two orders, namely the wildfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl (Anseriformes). Interestingly, these two groups have been determined to be close evolutionary relatives; together, they form the fowl clade which is scientifically known as Galloanserae.

"Poultry", on the other hand, is a term for any kind of domesticated bird or bird captive-raised for meat or eggs; ostriches for example are sometimes kept as poultry, but are neither wildfowl nor waterfowl. In colloquial speech, the term "fowl" is however often used near-synonymously with "poultry" or even "bird", and many languages do not distinguish between "poultry" and "fowl". Nonetheless, the fact that Galliformes and Anseriformes form a monophyletic group makes a distinction between "fowl" and "poultry" warranted.

Fowl were the first neognathe lineages to evolve. From the limited fossils that have to date been recovered, the conclusion that they were already widespread - indeed the predominant group of modern birds - by end of the Cretaceous is generally accepted nowadays. Fossils such as Vegavis indicate that essentially modern waterfowl - albeit belonging to a nowadays extinct lineage - were contemporaries of the (non-avian) dinosaurs. As opposed to the morphologically fairly conservative Galliformes, the Anseriformes have adapted to filter-feeding and are characterized by a large number of autapomorphies related to this lifestyle.