It is unknown exactly where or when these fowl with their singular combination of attributes first appeared, but the most well documented point of origin is ancient China. Other places in Southeast Asia have been named as possibilities, such as India and Java. The earliest surviving written account of Silkies comes from Marco Polo, who wrote of a "furry" chicken in the 13th century during his travels in Asia. In 1598, Ulisse Aldrovandi, a writer and naturalist at the University of Bologna, Italy, published a comprehensive treatise on chickens which is still read and admired today. In it, he spoke on "wool-bearing chickens" and ones "clothed with hair like that of a black cat".