There’s something about the color black that gets people all kinds of excited. In many countries, it’s associated with bad omens, mystery, the supernatural, and even magic. But in the West, it’s most commonly associated with one thing only: METAL.

And so it is that in the eyes of Indonesians, the Ayam Cemani is a prized breed of pitch-black chicken that probably portends good luck or something, but to the Western eye, it’s the second most metal bird we’ve ever seen.

In fact, the Ayam Cemani breed is so metal that even its organs are darker than usual. A good Ayam Cemani breeder will apparently go to great lengths to breed the darkest animal possible, with a perfect specimen exhibiting pitch-black plumage, legs and toes, tongue, comb and even black meat.

The animals are so perfectly black that a lot of people apparently mistakenly believe that the chicken’s blood is even black; not true, although it is supposedly darker than usual. Other than the color, there’s nothing else that really distinguishes these creatures from normal chickens, though, so breeding them is a strictly cosmetic hobby.

We’re not really sure about the taste of this slightly disgusting-looking black chicken meat, but it goes without saying that served alongside a table setting incorporating these crazy black roses, you’re in for the most heavy metal date night ever.

So, if this is only the second most metal bird we’ve ever seen, what is the first? Well, this one, of course:

Source and photos: Laba Q