what came first the chicken or the egg?

Answer 1

The egg.

It was laid by a Red Junglefowl, a Gallus species originating in Asia. It is not a chicken; it is, however, the ancestor of all chickens.

Somewhere down the line, one of the Red Junglefowl's eggs' DNA was mutated, and the egg produced a new kind of bird, a chicken. Which means, the Red Junglefowl's egg came before the chicken. And the first true chicken egg was laid by that chicken.

Answer 2

This question is _solipstic_. The only way there could be an answer would be if there were a capital-T True meaning of chicken and a capital-T True meaning of egg (or, more accurately, chicken egg.)

I'm not true such "True" meanings exist. I think that "chicken egg", in particular, is socially constructed. If we choose to define a chicken egg as "an egg a chicken lays," then the chicken obviously came first. If we choose to define a chicken egg as "an egg a chicken comes out of," then the egg came first.

So, ultimately, this is a question you get to answer, which sounds nice but is a little boring. You get to clarify your terms until an answer becomes possible, but I think you'll find that the moment an answer is possible it's disappointingly obvious.

Answer 3

The EGG DID!

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.

Professor John Brookfield, a specialist in evolutionary genetics at the University of Nottingham, told the UK Press Association the pecking order was clear.

The living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it would develop into, he said.

"Therefore, the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg," he added. "So, I would conclude that the egg came first."

The same conclusion was reached by his fellow "eggsperts" Professor David Papineau, of King's College London, and poultry farmer Charles Bourns.

Mr Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, agreed that the first chicken came from an egg and that proves there were chicken eggs before chickens.

He told PA people were mistaken if they argued that the mutant egg belonged to the "non-chicken" bird parents.

"I would argue it is a chicken egg if it has a chicken in it," he said.

"If a kangaroo laid an egg from which an ostrich hatched, that would surely be an ostrich egg, not a kangaroo egg."

Bourns, chairman of trade body Great British Chicken, said he was also firmly in the pro-egg camp.

He said: "Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived. Of course, they may not have been chicken eggs as we see them today, but they were eggs."

Answer 4

I pretty agree with Greg120750. The egg came first. However, we have to keep in mind that probably the first egg could have been different in shape than those we know now. There was probably not a single "first" egg, father of all chickens and eggs, but a succession of different types of eggs which evolved throughout the time.

Answer 5

i believe that the chicken came first. To prove my beliefs, I'm gonna tell you the story of Noah.
Noah was asked from God to bring with him to the ship 2 animals, one of male and one of female to keep reproducing. So Noah took a rooster and a chicken to the ship, so they reproduced and gave an egg.

Another prove is that you can put the question out this way:
What came first, the uterus or the baby?!

Answer 6

The Chicken. Eggs cannot walk.

Answer 7

We've just had this one haven't we ?

A chicken is a bird.

Birds are descended from dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs laid eggs.

Ergo the egg came first.

Answer 8

the egg from which this chicken hatched was first, next was the chicken itslef; the egg which the chicken lays comes last

Answer 9

God makes only one chicken. The chicken lays eggs. The eggs hatched into chicks. The chicks grow up into roosters and hens. The first chicken dies. The new hens and roosters mate and the hens lay eggs. Then, the circle of life continues again, again and again until there are many, many and many chickens in the world.

Answer 10

I don't recall Bible mentioning Noah carrying 2 eggs with him. Has to be the chicken first.
Another point. Dianasarus evolved into birds, who then laid eggs.