The Malaysian Serama first arrived in the UK in 2004 and The Serama Club of Great Britain was formed in 2005.
The exact origins of the Serama are unclear, but the breed is understood to have been developed at the early part of the 1970s in Kelatan State in Malaysia. The ‘Kapan’ (a miniature upright pet bantam), various small native game-like birds and the ‘Kate’ (the native unrefined ancestor of Japanese bantam) were all believed to have been used to create a small lightweight bird with a distinctive outline and character. The breed was given the name ‘Serama’ after a popular character Sri Rama from the traditional shadow puppet plays. In its native Malaysia today, the Serama is a very popular and highly prized exhibition bird, where they are trained to display themselves on a table before a panel of judges, and are regarded as a ‘living work of art’.