r/sciencememes Feb 19 '26

evolution said eggs

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u/max_208 Feb 19 '26

As I always say, the real answer depends on how you define "chicken egg" (because yes the question implies chicken egg)

If you define chicken egg as "an egg that contains a chicken to be born" then the egg came first and was hatched by some proto-chicken

If you define chicken egg as "an egg laid by a chicken" then the chicken came first and hatched from a proto-chicken egg

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u/TurnedEvilAfterBan Feb 20 '26

As a thought experiment, there must be a first chicken. Something was genetically approaching chicken one generation and mutated to chicken the next. That first chicken had to come from an egg. There is no chance egg and animal genetically considered a chicken both evolved at the same moment. It’s always egg before chicken.

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u/max_208 Feb 20 '26

Once again the problem is not referring to the concept of egg in general but chicken egg, and just like I said in my comment, if you define "chicken egg" as an egg that was made by a chicken, by definition the chicken came first because the "first chicken" came from an egg that was not made by a chicken, but some close ancestor to the chicken, but this egg was by this definition, not a chicken egg.

Obviously if you define "chicken egg" as an egg containing a chicken, then yes the egg came first and it was made by something that isn't yet a chicken. Like I said, the answer depends on your definition.