What came first the Chicken or the Egg? (answer inside)

[orange slice]

Source

LONDON, England -- It's a question that has baffled scientists, academics and pub bores through the ages: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Now a team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg.

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."

The debate, which may come as a relief to those with argumentative relatives, was organized by Disney to promote the release of the film "Chicken Little" on DVD.

So what are your thoughts?

[Sétanta]

Didn't they figure this out like, 60 years ago.

[orange slice]

Well im guessing that it wasn't totally clear, becuase people argued both ways, but now they officially determined that the egg came first.

[Fenris]

Nobel prize

[Shaun]

Oh damn, i always thought that it was the chicken, never mind though.

[Cluny the Scourge]

That's just retarded. Surely the whole 'chicken or the egg' thing is just a joke, not a real scientific problem for panty-waisters to waste grant money on? Even a half-wit could see that it has to be the egg - whatever animal in the ancestral line of all chickens first had DNA sufficiently like a modern chicken's to qualify in that genotype was the first ever chicken, and that chicken hatched from an egg. Wow, that takes real genius to figure out. Not.

[Drunken]

The same conclusion was reached by his fellow "eggsperts"

^ In my opinion the only worth while part of the article :original:

I suppose its knowledge, so it could be worth knowing at some point, regardless of how trivial it is currently.
I dread to think how much money and time they spent on this though... all that coffee needed to keep the eggsperts awake.

[removeduser_426582376423734]

Yeah, mutations and such were figured out a long time ago... I guess it needs an article to spread it to the masses, inside a joke.

[carl-the-conqueror]

technically the egg came first without talking about genetics, chickens have been around for thousands of years ago but fish, dinosaurs and other egg laying animals have been around for millions of years

[Richard]

Yes the egg obviously. The chicken egg was laid by a proto-chicken. Most probably it was a mutated proto chicken, which managed to survive and possibly mate with another proto chicken, thus creating the semi proto chicken, which then repeated the process, and so on.

[Sitarus Originalus PM-30+]

also i have read something about this topic a couple of days ago in newspaper... the scientist said egg was first and then the whole explanation about genetic and egg and chicken in egg made it too difficoult for me to understand, but my sister who is studdent of medicine said it makes sence, so... it must be something on it. =)

[Cluny the Scourge]

also i have read something about this topic a couple of days ago in newspaper... the scientist said egg was first and then the whole explanation about genetic and egg and chicken in egg made it too difficoult for me to understand, but my sister who is studdent of medicine said it makes sence, so... it must be something on it. =)

It doesn't need a fancy genetic explanation, just a common sense one. There was a first chicken. That first chicken came out of an egg.

[removeduser_426582376423734]

This debate is completely stupid.

What is an egg?
Is it a chicken egg?
How do we define an egg that has become a chicken egg from the mother that wasn't a chicken?
When does a chicken start and a non-chicken end?

Its a completely stupid question. The theory of evolution states that it is a very long process, going on for 3 billion years, and there are many procedures scrapped - where creatures become extinct.

A chicken came into existence only by a mutation. But we can never know if the egg that the chicken came out of was a chicken egg. It sounds stupid, but what defines a chicken egg? All eggs are different. And, what defines a chicken? If you think hard enough, you'll realise you don't know, and never will.

[Ulyaoth]

This is why I hate scientists and doctors and the like.

[Kino]

Deleted by user.

[Sitarus Originalus PM-30+]

but i have read an article about scientists being sure there was a egg.... so... i will believe them as i have no arguments anyway lol
if anyone of you do have... i would love to hear good aguments on how scientists are wrong =) (also i personally do not believe all i hear, but if i have nothing smart to say to be against them i rather am quiet)

[Irishman]

I thought that was common sense.

[Turnus]

This has been known for over a century...

[.Socrates]

I never cared which came first, I just eat the damn chicken and egg.

[Sétanta]

This has been known for over a century...

It has. If the report wasn't a joke I trully fear for the degredation of the title "expert."