which came first? the chicken or the egg....

[stevie]

 

let the debate begin 

[prometheus]

If you define a chicken egg as 'an egg with a chicken inside' and not as 'an egg layed by a chicken':

An almost-chicken laid a chicken egg.

[stevie]

this means that the creature that layed the egg was 1 generation pre-evolved from the actual species we know as chickens?

and if thats the case...chickens have been around for a while, have they always stayed the same or slowly evolved?

 

[prometheus]

Yes.

It is really a matter of definition. At some point the ancestor of the chicken will not be enough chicken to be called a chicken. And this is kind of theory since these two creatures, the almost-chicken and the first chicken, will be almost identical.


You could say that it must have been a chicken-like creature that would be unable to produce fertile offspring with the species we today call 'chicken'.

But for every definition you try to make you will realise it would be impossible to pick out one individual egg and claim it was the first real chicken egg. Plus you can't go back and try it anyway so the whole question is kind of stupid. This is because evolution is so slow and subtle.

[stevie]

also, ive always wondered....if homo sapiens evolved from apes....howcome apes still exist?

ive got an idea...but want some other theories before i say mine...just so i dont look stupid(fat chance)  

[prometheus]

Because we didn't evolve from apes.

Apes and humans share a common ancestor. There are like 10 different species of humans that died out. The same for each kind of ape we know today. And somewhere before that there was a common ancestor. Note this ancestor will not be the same for every comparison of Hominids. The common ancestor of Chimps and Bonobo's is no way as old as the common ancestor of Chimp and Homo Sapiens. And that guy had a common ancestor with the Orangutan. (yes, humans are more like chimps than they are like those orange guys).

Pointing out this common ancestor has the same problem as the one with the egg. The best common ancestor of all modern great apes and humans we found is called Pierolapithecus catalaunicus (I had to look that up). And it isn't a very good one. For one because it was found in Spain.

[llamaman]

Well according to Darwin's laws of evolution, The chicken came first. Amoebas will slowly develop into a proto-chicken, who lays an egg which makes a proto-chicken etc.

[thalberg]

You all are making this way too complicated.  The chicken came first.  Period. 

[aqu01rius]

The true answer would be "Neither".
All living things were somehow developed from microorganisms.

[BoliverAllmon]

I disagree. aliens came and mutated a certain species of cows and created chickens. Apparently they didnt like beef anymore and wanted something different.

boliver

[c18cont]

I thought,

A reptile in fact, laid a chicken egg......

John

[pianonut]

the chicken was adam.  goes to show what a beautiful woman can do to a man.

[chrysalis_]

If we are talking about a non-chicken egg
the egg came first... dinosaurs layed eggs long before chicken even walked the earth
gg

but if we're talking about a chicken egg.. well the chicken came first cause you need a chicken to lay a real chicken-egg ??

[edit]

after reading some more i go with prometheus on this one..

[Bouter Boogie]

OMG.. Does it even matter!?

[pianonut]

was it a chicken or a monkey?  maybe the piano monkey came first?
this is how some modern day pianists became so sexy looking.

[stevie]

was it a chicken or a monkey?  maybe the piano monkey came first?
this is how some modern day pianists became so sexy looking.

are you talking about me there? 

[pianonut]

no.  you don't look like piano monkey or a chicken.  you look like you could have an act in las vegas or your own daytime soap opera.  (of course, las vegas probably isn't a very good place for good looking people to hang out - or let it all hang out).  good looking people have a very big problem.  turning dates down right and left.  waiting for someone to love them for who they are and not what they look like. terrible life, i suppose.  at least you can eat oranges in florida (as prokofiev's love of three oranges came to mind).

[chromatickler]

an egg cannot come from a single chicken, therefore it must have come first

[6ft 4]

You all are making this way too complicated.  The chicken came first.  Period. 

no.

A related species layed an egg which had a mutation that made it into a "true" chicken.

Thus the egg came first.

[Dazzer]

seeing as eggs are unable to move physically without external help, in a race, the chicken comes first.

[prometheus]

People aren't reading *signs*.

[stevie]

does a chicken develop in an egg right from the moment of fertilisation?

or does the egg grow around or with it?

[prometheus]

The egg develops around the fertilised egg cell. I bet the egg cell also starts to develop. When the egg is fully developed the egg is laid. The chick inside continues to develop until it can break the egg shell.