Cel-Shaded Deku
Ha ha, charade you are!
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2010
The never ending debate about chickens. So, what came first? You need chickens to lay eggs and you need eggs to hatch into chickens.
What Came First? The Chicken or the Egg?
- Thread starter Cel-Shaded Deku
- Start date
Majora's Cat
How about that
The egg. Remember that eggs existed far before chickens like in the age of the dinosaurs. Your question never specified whether they're eggs in general or chicken eggs, so technically my answer is correct.
Seeing as I believe in Science, I usually argue that the egg came first. Using the theory of evolution, it's quite easy to see that the egg appeared many times whilst the chicken was slowly appearing through evolution of the previous species. Thus, the egg was first, not the chicken.
As you can see, my answer takes this question literally...
As you can see, my answer takes this question literally...
Hanyou
didn't build that
The question is, of course, "chicken" or "chicken egg."
In which case the answer seems irrelevant. It's not like they evolved independently. I suppose, however, a chicken would have to exist in order for a chicken egg to exist. Therefore, it could be said that a chicken egg could only come into existence after what is known as a chicken successfully evolved from its predecessor. The chicken itself would have hatched from its direct predecessor's egg, not a chicken egg. When it had offspring, that would be the first chicken egg.
Which brings up questions of its own. Is there a clear generational line between one species and another? Evolution is such a gradual process that the "line" could fall anywhere.
My point being, that by the time the first chicken as we know it (or knew it, since they used to be able to fly), would have hatched from an egg that was technically, a chicken egg due to the fact that it was an egg that protected the chicken in early stages of life.
The problem you have with the egg being first, is that not only would it require a mother to lay it, which is of course common sense, but that the hen is also needed to hatch it. With that said, whether you believe in evolution or creationism, evidence from either party would suggest that the chicken came first regardless.
ComposerBrother
Composer of Hyrule
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Location
- Making Music Bruh
Okay, I'll do this the religious way:
"God created chickens and placed them on this Earth. Then they laid eggs to continue their species..."
Now I'll do this my way:
*flips coin*
The Egg.
"God created chickens and placed them on this Earth. Then they laid eggs to continue their species..."
Now I'll do this my way:
*flips coin*
The Egg.
Xinnamin
Mrs. Austin
Evolutions are caused by beneficial variations in the genes that get passed down to offspring and kept over the generations until that particular variation becomes standard. Species are usually classified as groups of animals capable of making fertile offspring. That being said, given the slow process of evolution and the shaky boundaries between what separates species and when a group of animals can be considered a different species than their ancestors, the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first is a powerful oversimplification of how evolution works, oversimplified to the point where I don't think an answer is even possible.
That being said, you can look at it from both points of view depending on what an egg is. One point of view is that eggs are classified by the animal inside the egg, thus the egg came first because the organism inside has the genetic structure of a chicken while the mother has the genetic structure of whatever came before the chicken. On the other hand, if an egg is classified by the parent rather than the offspring inside, then the chicken must have come first to create that chicken egg.
Also, since we can't ever say for certain when one species evolves enough to be considered another species, it's also impossible to state for certain whether the chicken or the egg completed that evolution process first. The boundaries between species is shaky to begin with, and again, it still comes down to whether you classify the egg by the parent or by the offspring. Personally, I find the whole argument an oversimplification of complicated processes and therefore totally moot.
Though if I must answer the question, I say that the egg came first. However, I have no explainable reason for believing as such.
That being said, you can look at it from both points of view depending on what an egg is. One point of view is that eggs are classified by the animal inside the egg, thus the egg came first because the organism inside has the genetic structure of a chicken while the mother has the genetic structure of whatever came before the chicken. On the other hand, if an egg is classified by the parent rather than the offspring inside, then the chicken must have come first to create that chicken egg.
Also, since we can't ever say for certain when one species evolves enough to be considered another species, it's also impossible to state for certain whether the chicken or the egg completed that evolution process first. The boundaries between species is shaky to begin with, and again, it still comes down to whether you classify the egg by the parent or by the offspring. Personally, I find the whole argument an oversimplification of complicated processes and therefore totally moot.
Though if I must answer the question, I say that the egg came first. However, I have no explainable reason for believing as such.
TreeHuggerPanda
The tree hugger of Hyrule
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2010
I'm just going to go with my own religion, so please don't be offended because of my post... please...
Since I am a Christan, I believe in God and blah, blah, blah. I also believe that God created the non-mammal animals from eggs, and then the mammal animals full grown. So seeing that the chicken is not a mammal, I believe the egg came first.
Since I am a Christan, I believe in God and blah, blah, blah. I also believe that God created the non-mammal animals from eggs, and then the mammal animals full grown. So seeing that the chicken is not a mammal, I believe the egg came first.
KrazyKyuubi
OH SNAPPLE
- Joined
- May 12, 2009
Hmm. Well, let's think about this.
Option 1 - The Egg
So you've got the egg. It hatches into a chicken. But what laid the egg? What warmed it to make it hatch? Is it a magical egg? If it was a magical egg, would it taste the same if you fried it up and ate it??
Option 2 - The Chicken
And now you have a chicken. It lays an egg. What put the chicken there? What breed of chicken is it? If God zapped it with lightning and made it into fried chicken, WOULD IT BE OKAY TO EAT??
*KrazyKyuubi has not eaten*
But, uh, anyways, I don't really know. Nobody really knows. This is one of those questions that we can never be sure of. I want to shoot whoever came up with it in the first place. I'll give you the answer I give all other people when they ask me this.
'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?'
'I think your mom came first and ate both of them then laid an egg.'
That doesn't make any sense, but seeing as I think both options are equally possible, there you have my infinite wisdom.
Go now, smarter than you were before.
Option 1 - The Egg
So you've got the egg. It hatches into a chicken. But what laid the egg? What warmed it to make it hatch? Is it a magical egg? If it was a magical egg, would it taste the same if you fried it up and ate it??
Option 2 - The Chicken
And now you have a chicken. It lays an egg. What put the chicken there? What breed of chicken is it? If God zapped it with lightning and made it into fried chicken, WOULD IT BE OKAY TO EAT??
*KrazyKyuubi has not eaten*
But, uh, anyways, I don't really know. Nobody really knows. This is one of those questions that we can never be sure of. I want to shoot whoever came up with it in the first place. I'll give you the answer I give all other people when they ask me this.
'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?'
'I think your mom came first and ate both of them then laid an egg.'
That doesn't make any sense, but seeing as I think both options are equally possible, there you have my infinite wisdom.
Go now, smarter than you were before.
athenian200
Circumspect
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
How should I know? I wasn't there when the first chicken came into existence. That's the only way you could know the answer to that question.
However, I suppose that from a theological perspective, one would be likely to say that God created chickens, and then those chickens laid eggs, thus the chicken came first.
From a scientific perspective, chickens evolved from earlier creatures that laid eggs. At this point, it depends on how you classify the egg, and how you define chicken (let's assume for the sake of argument that we're talking about a creature with 99.5% DNA similarity to a modern chicken). If you classify it by the parent, then the first full chicken was hatched from a proto-chicken's egg, and thus the chicken came first. If you classify it by offspring, then the egg containing the first chicken came first.
So honestly, the answer to that question depends on where you believe chickens came from, and how you define chicken.
However, I suppose that from a theological perspective, one would be likely to say that God created chickens, and then those chickens laid eggs, thus the chicken came first.
From a scientific perspective, chickens evolved from earlier creatures that laid eggs. At this point, it depends on how you classify the egg, and how you define chicken (let's assume for the sake of argument that we're talking about a creature with 99.5% DNA similarity to a modern chicken). If you classify it by the parent, then the first full chicken was hatched from a proto-chicken's egg, and thus the chicken came first. If you classify it by offspring, then the egg containing the first chicken came first.
So honestly, the answer to that question depends on where you believe chickens came from, and how you define chicken.
Out of curiosity, where does it say [in the Bible, I mean] that He created non-mammals from eggs?
I believe He created all animals, and therefore the chicken came first.
Ninten*
BLOOOOOOOO
I'm a Christian so according to my belief, the chicken came first.
You could approach it scientifically and make it impossible. It's believed that birds could be the descendants of dinosaurs. So that would pretty much mean that the species changed over millions of years. So then the animal that came before the chicken had it's DNA close to a chicken's DNA. So when it layed eggs, those were chicken eggs. Some might argue about this and say that when the egg hatched, it wasn't a chicken yet and as it grew, its DNA changed into a chicken's.
You could approach it scientifically and make it impossible. It's believed that birds could be the descendants of dinosaurs. So that would pretty much mean that the species changed over millions of years. So then the animal that came before the chicken had it's DNA close to a chicken's DNA. So when it layed eggs, those were chicken eggs. Some might argue about this and say that when the egg hatched, it wasn't a chicken yet and as it grew, its DNA changed into a chicken's.
AwesomeTingle
Pure Awesomeness
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2010
- Location
- Somewhere over the Rainbow
IF the egg was 1st, how was it formed? If a chicken was first, it could be formed through evolution (I think 
)
Besides, if it were just an egg it would die. It needs warmth and care. That's where the chicken comes in. So... without the chicken, the egg would die!
)Besides, if it were just an egg it would die. It needs warmth and care. That's where the chicken comes in. So... without the chicken, the egg would die!
TheGreen
is climbin' in yo windows
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2010
- Location
- San Antonio
Here's my thought.
If we determine a chicken is in fact a chicken by it's genetic make-up then a "pre-chicken" was in fact an early chicken, just as we would say a neanderthal is not a human but an early human. So a pre-chicken had an offspring with sufficient mutations (as evolution theory describes) to create the first chicken, but of course it was an embryo in an egg before it was the first chicken, thence, the chicken egg came first.
If we determine a chicken is in fact a chicken by it's genetic make-up then a "pre-chicken" was in fact an early chicken, just as we would say a neanderthal is not a human but an early human. So a pre-chicken had an offspring with sufficient mutations (as evolution theory describes) to create the first chicken, but of course it was an embryo in an egg before it was the first chicken, thence, the chicken egg came first.