chick and egg

It makes sense to me.

It’s a question that has baffled scientists, academics and pub bores through the ages: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Now a team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg.

Put simply, the reason is down to the fact that genetic material does not change during an animal’s life.

Therefore the first bird that evolved into what we would call a chicken, probably in prehistoric times, must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg.

That doesn’t mean that it no longer makes a good metaphor.



  1. ECA says:

    WOW,
    I’ve tried to tell this explaination to others, and NO ONE, would listen…

    At conception, and developement, is when THINGS can change…AFTER that, not much can be done..

    this from a person born with a handicap, that has a 50/50 chance of being passed, as WELL as being spontanious mutation..

  2. Ross says:

    But then where did the egg come from?

  3. xully says:

    Genetic material may not change during an animal’s life, but an animal can certainly die before it reproduces. Evolution is a reflection of the environment in which life evolves, so it is more likely that there were circumstances why an embryo with better protection was more likely to survive in the womb. Repeat that scenario long enough, and you have babies being born inside eggs. The most likely cause for this need for protection – deadly cosmic rays from Gandorf.

  4. Mr. H. Fusion says:

    It took three scientists to figure this out?

    We know through fossil records that the dinosaurs, at least, laid eggs. Dinosaurs predate not only chickens, but all birds. Therefore, it should be clear that the egg was here millions of years ago while the chicken is a much more recent evolution.

  5. Luís Camacho says:

    Very clever indeed! Kudus to these dudes.

  6. Pete says:

    #2 Where does the egg come from? Well of course from some “intelligent” entity that “designed” it in the first place.

  7. Miguel Correia says:

    Who came first? It was the amoeba!! DUHHHH!! LOL

  8. cream says:

    calling bs on this one. what if the chicken was just different enough from the mother that it was born the way pre-chickens were born but then mated and created an egg?

    fargin’ people

  9. Locke says:

    NO WAY! They needed a team of scientists to solve THAT!? I’ve been saying that for years now, and no one listens! Can’t believe they needed [ayed scientists to solve THAT question..Not cool…….

  10. Bruce IV says:

    Of course, it only works if you believe evolution … creationist viewpoint is that the chicken came first, and was a fully functioning adult at creation. Depending on your belief, you would be able to argue it either way … course, I’m going to get nailed for this by all the lib’s on this blog (ie Pete #8).

  11. Eideard says:

    Science vs. superstition is a question of “belief” only for the superstitious.

  12. axe says:

    It was one scientist, a chicken farmer, and a philosopher.

    They are now contemplating on why did the chicken cross the road. You know things like getting to the other side, food, better living conditions, etc.

  13. Carl S. says:

    Two birds got together and had a baby er egg. And out poped Foghorn Leghorn or was that Road Island Red.

  14. Actually the explanation is laking. If we applied the reasoning to “where the first animal that could lie an egg came from?” you’d get a contradiction since clearly it couldn’t have come from an egg! Then we would have to get into what exactly is an egg: an embryo? the hard shell? Once realizes quickly the question is kind of meaningless.

  15. Mick Jones says:

    I learned this in 9th grade Biology.

  16. ECA says:

    the TRICK of mutaion, is SURVIVAL..
    It must be able to EAT, and then foster MORE…

    Even NOW, humans Mutate(nothing special)..
    And a PERFECT child(LMAO) is 1 in 10…The other 9 generally have something that HAS hit them, or WILL in the future…

    My mutation is about 1/10,000

  17. johnny says:

    wouldnt that chciken then needed a second chicken to reproduce with? that means two eggs came about since most interspecies hybrids are infertile

  18. ECA says:

    19,
    Not quite.
    As a species, it could have been almost anything CLOSE to it.
    Canart’s can inter breed, as a group. but you just AINT going to get the same bird. It will be a canary, but NONE of the subspecies.

    Infertility?? then 2/3 of the human population would die out…

  19. Bruce IV says:

    “Science vs Superstition” indeed (18) … please, someone explain how a random genetic mutation actually created information instead of destroying it, how the entire universe increased in order (as the universe as a whole is a closed system), in clear violation of the second law of thermodynamics, where are the transitionary fossils (yes, you will say some have been found, but there should be many more, and the few claimed are disputed), ect. Of course, there are questions with no (or weak) answers to creation … what I’m saying is just because a theory allows for the existence of God does not mean it is unscientific. Origins is well in the realm of history, an area that science can provide evidence about, but niether prove nor disprove – much scientific evidence can be interpreted as pointing to either side, depending on your previous bias.

  20. Teyecoon says:

    That doesn’t make sense as an evolutionary theory. The animal would have to develop first and then egg laying would would simply evolve as another way of creating offspring. Thus, the animal evolved first then the egg laying process evolved next. It seems to me that the “fertilized” egg evolving first is a creationist theory rather than evolutionary. I don’t get his point which seems like a jump to conclusion based on what we don’t know…which again is creationism. : )

  21. kody says:

    hey who cares really it was better wothout knowing god ppl get a life and i would only take 1 person with no experience in any science field to do this romfl you guys got a problem >.

  22. stephanie says:

    Wow…I was going to leave a comment about how cool it was that they “solved” this question; but after reading all these other comments, I’m still confused and now i just don’t care.

  23. smart-arse says:

    A chicken is a bird, which by definition lays eggs; two creatures mating that were not chickens, but had the combined genetic make-up to produce the first chicken egg, created the first egg that eventually became a chicken. The question is referring to the chicken egg, and not some egg from another species, which is why it creates a dilemma for many people..


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