what came first the chicken or the egg?
2006-07-15 11:19:54 · 19 answers · asked by lola 1 in Pets ➔ Birds
The chicken came first, but only after the egg.
2006-07-15 11:22:58 · answer #1 · answered by Chewthis 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In evolution, the egg clearly came first. There were eggs around long before there were any chickens. Dinosaurs laid eggs (fossils have been discovered) before there were any birds. A chicken-like dinosaur called Gallimimus (name means "chicken-like") laid eggs.
Undoubtedly the very first chicken to evolve hatched from an egg laid by a similar species. The interesting question is whether that egg was a chicken-egg or the egg of the species that laid it. For example, if you asked, "What came first the chicken or the chicken-egg?" what would the answer would be? We wouldn't have the ability to tell whether certain fossil eggs are genetically identical to chicken eggs, if they appeared similar in all respects. So, it might depend on whether we call an egg a chicken-egg because it's laid by a chicken (in which case the answer is "the chicken came first") or because a chicken hatches from it (in which case the answer is "the egg"). In this case, it's not a scientific question, but a semantic one, and it just depends on how we choose to name things.
Of course, if you asked, "What came first, the chicken [i.e. some particular chicken] or its egg?" the answer would be, "Its egg."
For information on Gallimimus and other egg-laying dinosaurs, see below.
2006-07-15 18:29:14 · answer #2 · answered by artful dodger 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Egg
2006-07-15 19:51:29 · answer #3 · answered by Catcanscratch 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had eggs for breakfast and BBQ chicken tonight. So the egg came first.
2006-07-15 19:23:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Egg. Of course, the parents of that egg weren't chickens.
2006-07-15 18:22:36 · answer #5 · answered by pizzagirl 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
(the egg,) the riddle does not specify that the eggs in question
are chicken eggs and according to paleontolgist, reptiles
and dinosaurs existed long before birds and chickens
fossilizzed eggs dating back, one hundred million years
have been uncovered
thus it can be said that eggs came before chickens.
2006-07-20 00:25:58 · answer #6 · answered by reddogcudda 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the chicken if it was just the egg it couldnt hatch cuz theres no parents to take care of it. and the chick couldnt survive on its own. if u mean egg any egg probaly the egg but if ur talking chicken wise the chicken.
2006-07-15 18:42:52 · answer #7 · answered by sausalito 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why do people ask this question everyday???????
You must be really bored people......
Scientists say it was the egg not a chicken egg just any egg from another species of animal.
2006-07-15 18:27:46 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
since chickens evolved from other animals, the egg came first.
2006-07-15 18:29:10 · answer #9 · answered by butter with a touch of scotch 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the egg
2006-07-15 18:23:08 · answer #10 · answered by Anthony 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋