Which came first egg or chicken?

[angelkay]

Hmm... This is one that has been bothering me for years!

 

I think that the chicken came first, and then it laid the egg. ~

[AAurion]

egg.

 

think of genetic mutations. scientists are trying to "recreate" dinosaurs by altering the genes in chicken eggs. i saw on a TV show that they were being rather successful, but terminated the developing egg before it hatched to prevent religious complaints.

 

lets say that a genetic mutation accidentally occurs in the division of cells within a developing dinosaur egg. the embryo forms feathers instead of scales, because that gene/trait was accidentally "turned on". when that "missing link" mates, more of its genes and mutations are passed down. its offspring now have feathers, and that missing link multiplies.

then lets say a pair of those "missing links" breed. their offspring will have feathers, but another accidental mutation occurs. the tail is shrunken. then the species goes through the whole process for multiplying and what not, yadda yadda.

 

as these mutations breed, spread, multiply, mutate, and evolve, we will eventually have a very bird-like reptile. it lays an egg. the egg, unfortunately, has another mutation. a chicken hatches from an egg laid by a bird-like dinosaur.

 

therefore, via accidental mutations and millions of years of evolution, a chicken is born from an egg (that wasn't laid by a chicken). and, of course, they breed, multiply, spread, etc.

This, basically. If you believe in evolution, the first chicken would have been born from something that wasn't a chicken, and it was the first of its kind to be born differently (evolve) and thus be considered a chicken.

 

On the other hand, if you believe everything is created you no doubt believe the chicken came first.

 

 

[Saiph]

I still, and shall always say, the chicken came first. Because an egg has to come from a parent...or, a female parent, since that is where we know the round-ish shaped objects we call eggs come from. But one day, something happened and an itty bitty tiny life form that would one day become a chicken came into exsistance. Thus, the chicken came first.

 

My point being (if I wasn't so clear, cuz, even I got confused after reading that) the objects we call eggs are the result of what a female parent can produce. It can't come from anywhere else, otherwise, it wouldn't be included in our definition of an egg. An egg doesn't come out of nowhere.

 

Egg=the start of a possible Babeh...or breakfast depending on the animal Comes from/lain by= Female

 

That is what an egg is. Something produced by a female for reproductive purposes. Meaning it can't have come first if there was no female to produce it.

 

My logic anyhow. There are many theories.

 

EDIT: Woot! 200th post! And it's about chickens....

Edited July 8, 2011 by Saiph

[Nine]

Neither, since our perceptions of what a chicken "is" or "isn't" is fallible and has no impact on the series of mutations that eventually led up to what we consider a "chicken".

 

TL;DR-- everything we know is perception, perception itself is perception, reality is a myth, head explodes.

[-platinum-draco-]

Not a problem.

 

For those confused, let me explain.

 

There is a protein made by a female chicken that is only found in chicken eggs. If the egg lacks that protein it cannot be a chicken egg. The chicken came first, it hatched out of a non-chicken egg, since the previous generation lacked the protein, and probably had some other protein in place.

 

Thus the chicken actually came first.

 

Scientific miracles!

If it hatches into a chicken, it is a chicken egg. Most likely, the protein was a mutation from a non chicken, and appeared in the egg. SO a non-chicken laid a chicken egg. However, what is or is not a chicken egg can very from person to person. For me, it is a chicken egg if it hatches into a chicken, not if a chicken produced it, so the egg came first. If it is a different way for someone else, then it is a different result.

[nekodiscord]

On DC the egg came first, then the chicken! Haha I know the truth!

[Saskia]

I think the egg because the chicken had to come from somewhere. x3

[Kestra15]

On DC the egg came first, then the chicken! Haha I know the truth!

Epic.

[Xocowolf]

The Chicken IS the Egg.

[/wise]

[oceandragonz]

I think a slightly different dinosaur chicken thing laid a slightly more evolved EGG... so the egg came first, and hatched into the chicken.

[TheDarkCynder]

The egg has to have come first. If two non-chickens mated for their zygote to form the first actual chicken, it contained the mutations that make a chicken a chicken. This egg would hatch to be the first mutation of what is now a chicken.

[Gsea]

The egg. Because how can a chicken come first? It has to hatch out of an egg! Somewhere along the line, some prehistoric predecessor of the chicken laid a more evolved egg, which laid a more evolved egg, and so on, until you get an egg from which hatches...a chicken.

[Packgoater]

The egg. Dinosaurs were laying eggs long before there were any chickens.

[elderberrysyrup]

If it hatches into a chicken, it is a chicken egg. Most likely, the protein was a mutation from a non chicken, and appeared in the egg. SO a non-chicken laid a chicken egg. However, what is or is not a chicken egg can very from person to person. For me, it is a chicken egg if it hatches into a chicken, not if a chicken produced it, so the egg came first. If it is a different way for someone else, then it is a different result.

No no, the protein required for the chicken egg species actually is what defines the egg as a chicken. However, if it is bred and an egg that is very very close to an egg but is missing that protein, then it cannot be a chicken egg. The chicken that results from the egg will lay the egg with the protein, thus a chicken egg. Therefore a chicken must come before the egg, for the chicken's ancestors lacked this protein in chicken eggs. Rather, you could say a chicken hatched out a mutant and then established itself as a species.

 

Like if a human was born with heterochromia, it doesn't really matter if the mom and dad don't have it. If heterochromia becomes a defining trait in a species of homo sapiens that devops from current mankind, then that is like saying those that gave birth to the original heterochromatic ancestor had to be heterochromic themselves, which just makes no sense.

[alicephantomile]

I want to say 'chicken', but Science suggests otherwise. Good ol' science.

 

But then, my ovums came from my mum. Who got them from her mum. Who got them from her mum. Long and incredibly vast number of mums who passed on genetic information for eggs. But where did the first mum come from? Religion says God (or Gods, plural - or if you're into the bible, the first mother came from a man's rib), and Science says Darwin said 'Evolution'.

 

I mean really, in the end, it's a ridiculous and silly question, and I'm going to say we might as well have the universal significance of a single-celled organism. The chickens too.

 

(And I realise now that 'mum' may confuse some people - I don't feel right spelling it 'mom', even if it makes it easier to understand haha)

 

edit: forgive me my daft ramblings; I'm seriously sleep-deprived

Edited November 21, 2011 by alicephantomile

[Kursedfire]

The Circle

[Pixxelation]

I think the chicken came first. My theory: cells group together. Chicken be made. Chicken lay egg to make more food chicken.

[stogucheme]

The chicken came first. The egg would've died on its own. (No one to hatch it.)

[tanglepelt3]

I think the chicken came first because you need to have a chicken to lay eggs.

[Dr. Paine]

The chicken came first. The egg would've died on its own. (No one to hatch it.)

Ahaha...

 

no.

 

:| It doesn't work that way. Whether the chicken itself or the chicken egg came first, there would've been some sort of proto-chicken to hatch it.

[boscodelta]

The egg...

It would have been the start of all life. Wouldnt it?

Because if "particles were to form together" it would have been in its begining stage not the completed stage.

[mishhelle]

The egg. I don't believe The Almighty and Powerful God just slapped a chicken onto the Earth, but that it evolved from other animals. Cells grouped together to form a living organism, who layed an egg which gave birth to another organism, which evolved more, which layed an egg that give birth to another organism, so on and so forth until a chicken as we know it hatched out of the egg.

 

LOL I'm going to bed...

[boscodelta]

Agrees with post above.

 

Lol and im going to bed too.

[miladyz]

I think the egg came first as a mutation of some other bird's egg.

[Da_Troll]

I know that it was the egg, not a chicken egg because dinos laid eggs too...