Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Question

I'm taking an online bio class, and we were instructed to write 3 posts on this question. Here's my first:


"It would have to be the egg. However, my answer is more of a technicality than anything else. First of all, we would need to define what constitutes a chicken, since chickens gradually evolved over time from something else. So, we'd need to declare what the first chicken was at some point in the distant past. Since the use of eggs was present in chicken's ancestors, we can be certain that the first chicken did in fact come from an egg, and it's parents would have almost been chickens, but not quite. Be that as it may, our definition of the first chicken would need to be specifically defined, since chickens have changed though the ages, and the first chickens would have been almost identical from their parents, but they would be just barely "chickenish" enough be be considered chickens by modern standards."


Could you help me generate new ideas to discuss on this?

Answer 1

It is the egg since dinosaurs, fish etc laid eggs before chickens even existen. You should have just searched the question and you would have gotten lots of differnet viewpoints.

If you wanted to go far back you could trace chickens back to bacteria in which case you would have to decide whether to classify the bacteria as (chickens) and then, since bacteria don't lay eggs, the chicken came firts. However this is a bit far fetched.

If you want to follow your idea the main problem is deciding how to define a chicken and even then, would you say the egg came first because the chicken was just 'chickenish' enough while it was in the egg?

I've heard people argue that the chicken came first 'because God created all animals and then they laid eggs' however, since this is biology, I doubt this argument will be valid.

Answer 2

Do you want the short answer or the long answer? The chicken came first because an egg cannot evolve, lying around for millions or years. Niether can an bird other than today's chicken hatch an egg which would be a chicken we know today. There is no empirical evidence of any transitional birds between today's varieties of chicken and other birds, except if it was a chicken variety which got "barbequed" off the earth. Varieties do not proove transitional species. You will not find any proof that bones you find in the dirt will prove they're from a transitional species or that those bones had any kids that lived. Am I deviating from the subject much? I don't think so.

Answer 3

I think your answer is perfect, IF evolution did occur. However, since I don't believe that it did happen, I think your answer is incorrect. I do believe the biblical account of creation, which says that God created all the animals. That means that He put chickens in the garden of Eden. Those chickens later (maybe the next day?) laid eggs.

I'm not trying to convince anyone of which happened, and nobody will change my stance on it, but basically if creation happened, the chicken was first. If evolution happened, the egg was first.

The "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" question is a lot more philosophical than it seems on the surface, isn't it?

Answer 4

the concept of evolution states that species replace over the years by mutation and sexual reproduction. because deoxyribonucleic acid could properly be changed in reality before beginning, it may properly be argued that a mutation must have taken position at theory or interior an egg such that a creature resembling a fowl, yet no longer a fowl, laid the first fowl eggs. those eggs then hatched into chickens that inbred to furnish a residing inhabitants.therefore, in this ordinary, both the fowl and the shape of its egg advanced concurrently from birds that, even as no longer of an identical genuine species, gradually grew to develop into further and extra like modern-day-day chickens over the years.

Answer 5

The chicken. God made two of each animal and placed them on the planet. They laid more eggs and increased the chicken population etc etc etc. Your theory has a big hole in it as most evolutionist theories do. You can keep going back and back and back with earlier and earlier eggs, but how did the first one ever get here. It didn't just one day evolve suddenly out of something else like a toe. That makes no sense.

Answer 6

That is the sort of answer I was going to give. You could expand in to a general discussion on taxonomy, and do the mummy and daddy actually care what species they are? Indeed, is the whole concept of "species" a human lable rather than a biological necessity?

Look at the Monotremes. Are they mammal or reptile? Do they care?

Answer 7

the rooster came first
thats how the chicken got pregnant

Answer 8

That's actually not a bad answer. I'm chicken to try and improve on it ☺

Doug

Answer 9

i agree with sane and teran, God made the chicken first!

Answer 10

I think this is of helpful hehehe LoL