2007-03-13 08:20:10 · 17 answers · asked by redhotminxy 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Evolutionarily speaking, eggs appeared long before chickens. So, obviously, the egg came first.
2007-03-13 08:24:42 · answer #1 · answered by hcbiochem 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This question has more relevance to the abortion debate than the evolution one.
When this question is asked, it's safe to presume the asker is not referring to just any sort of egg, such as an amphibian egg, but specifically to a chicken egg. So let's assume that at some point you had two birds that were not quite technically "chickens", and they mated to produce a bird that was just barely an acceptable "chicken". The fertilized zygote -- a single cell -- of this new chicken will eventually give rise to both the embryo and the protective "egg."
The question is at what point can we call the developing embryo a "chicken"? Is it fertilization? In that case the chicken is first. Is it "hatching"? Then it's the egg. Is it somewhere in the middle? Then it's probably the egg, considering that the "egg" forms from the zygote much more rapidly than the embryo does.
2007-03-13 09:41:24 · answer #2 · answered by Ben H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The egg came first.
There were these two animals you see - they were birds and they were quite like chickens, but not quite chickens. One was a male not quite chicken and the other was a female not quite chicken.
So anyway, they got jiggy in birdy kinda way and the female not quite chicken laid an egg. A wee while later it hatched and out popped a chicken.
Must have happened more than once so that there'd be two chickens around to make more wee chicklets.
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That's my favourite answer. However, it's actually pretty tricky to decide/define quite when a new species is formed which makes it pretty tricky to decide whether an egg or a chicken was the first on the chicken side of the dividing line.
2007-03-13 08:52:52 · answer #3 · answered by Miss Nomer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As others have pointed out already, the evolution answer is that the first chicken egg was laid by something not quite chicken, so egg first.
But even if you ignore evolution, it's still egg first, because every animal including chicken starts out as one part sperm one part egg. Unless the question becomes "What came first, the chicken or the the hard shelled egg?" in which case I believe chicken embryo forms before membrane surrounding it hardens.
2007-03-13 13:30:02 · answer #4 · answered by khalabra 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The egg came first and each subsequently laid egg changed by evolutionary processes until eventually a bird that looked like a chicken was hatched.
2007-03-13 08:26:42 · answer #5 · answered by Robert S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Obviously the chicken.
If God had created eggs on day 5 then the chicks would have died. He created chickens and they laid eggs, and the rest is history.
Actually he likely created the chicken ancestors from which the domestic chicken has been arrived at via natural and artifical selection.
2007-03-13 09:22:08 · answer #6 · answered by a Real Truthseeker 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the chicken came first. This is because in the bible God created animal Life on the 5 day.... The Chicken had to be first. If you dont believe me look in the bible under Genesis and find chapter 1 section 20-23
2007-03-13 09:13:53 · answer #7 · answered by Cat Lover 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Inteligent design is only believed by people too smart to believe in creationism, but too stupid to accept facts.
The egg obviously came first for the reasons stated previously, "not quite chicken" being the coolest explaination.
2007-03-13 08:59:35 · answer #8 · answered by john 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
amphibians and reptiles where laying eggs for millions of years before the chicken was on the scene. So that pretty much gives it to the egg.
2007-03-13 08:25:53 · answer #9 · answered by despairbear 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The first 'chicken' came out of an egg that was laid by its closest evolutionary ancestor which was not a chicken (phylogeny).
2007-03-13 08:54:11 · answer #10 · answered by Antimonic 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋