The Cuban prawn-tail identity

Slow Food’s Cuban Cubalaya entry connects the breed’s local identity with its broad, downward-curving tail, known as cola de camarón, or prawn tail. The account records Cuban recognition on November 9, 1935, followed by American recognition in 1939. A pea comb and the bird’s distinctive outline help explain why conservation concerns an entire population and body type rather than one feather color.

The entry describes work to recover characteristic birds in Villa Clara and efforts to encourage breeders across Cuba. Its warning concerns loss of recognizable breeding populations through indiscriminate crossing and replacement by more productive stock. This is a conservation account, not evidence that Cubalaya chickens constitute a separate species. Preserving the breed involves breeding continuity and documented selection while retaining the Cuban cultural context that gave the birds their name and purpose. The entry’s undated numbers are not used here as a current census.