Sunday, March 24, 2013
What Came First The Chicken Or The Egg
Chick hatching from egg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
While the average person might see this as a pointless thought experiment, its also a question that has sparked the interest of nearly anyone who has ever given it thought – from little kids to farmers, philosophers, and geneticists. Care to join in and find outthe answer? Check out the following information.
The Origins of the Issue
The question, “what came first, the chicken or the egg?,” has been around for quite some time. Records show that the works of classical philosophers contained references that pointed to the issue.
The question, “what came first, the chicken or the egg?,” has been around for quite some time. Records show that the works of classical philosophers contained references that pointed to the issue.
Aristotle, for instance, contemplated the problem about whether it was the chicken or the egg that came first. He decided that both egg and bird must have always been in existence. He mulled over the issue, reasoning that a first egg could not have existed to give birds a beginning because the first egg should have come from a first bird. Additionally, the first bird could not have come into existence without the first egg. Aristotle, like Plato, held that everything was first a spirit before it assumed a visible form on earth.
Aristotle wasn’t the only one to ponder the question, either. Plutarch, along with his comrade, Sulla, also referred to the dilemma in his writings. This time, though, he used the term “hen” instead of just “bird.” He and Sulla were of the opinion that such a trivial question served as a tool with which they were loosening a major problem – that of the world’s creation.
A 5th century Roman philosopher, Macrobius, also thought of the dilemma as an interesting one. Like the great minds before his time, he regarded the issue as more than just triviality. He thought of the problem as one that was worthy of careful discussion. Other noteworthy and brilliant people who sought the answer to the question include Baron D’Hobach (author of In System of Nature), Christopher Langan, and Stephen Hawking. Of course, Darwin’s On the Origin of Species andTheory of Evolution also deserve to be mentioned.
The Response of the Scientific Community
Through the process of sexual reproduction and mutation, each species evolve over the passage of time, according to the theory of evolution. The modifications to the species occur in the creature’s deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, which can only be changed prior to birth. Following this principle, a mutation can only occur either at the time of conception or within the egg.
Through the process of sexual reproduction and mutation, each species evolve over the passage of time, according to the theory of evolution. The modifications to the species occur in the creature’s deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, which can only be changed prior to birth. Following this principle, a mutation can only occur either at the time of conception or within the egg.
As a result, it can be argued that a chicken-like animal, but not a true chicken, could have brought forth the first chicken eggs. From these eggs, little chicken hatched and bred within the species to generate a living population. Thus, it can be concluded that chicken eggs and chickens came from birds that were not of the same species but turned more and more into the chicken of today.
Nevertheless, a single mutation in one creature isn’t enough to constitute an entirely new species. This is where the concept of a speciation event comes in. A speciation event is the process by which domesticated animals enter a totally separate classification from their wild and ancient ancestors. It consists of the separation of a certain population from its parents. Interbreeding stops, and the offspring are regarded as a completely different species.
Previous research indicates that the modern chicken came from the red junglefowl, a bird species that is closely related to chickens. However, recent discoveries point to both the grey junglefowl and red junglefowl as the original ancestors of the modern, domestic chicken.
Based on the above premises, it can be gleaned that the egg did come before the chicken. Thatchicken egg could not have come into existence until a speciation event occurred to differentiate the modern creature from its forebears. Even if the speciation event could be pinpointed, no one would be able to determine that it has occurred until the first chicken emerged from the egg. Thus, it is next to impossible to identify the first chicken egg as such. Nevertheless, a simple way of viewing it is that the first chicken had to have been hatched from the first chicken egg, regardless of the speciation event that led to the creation of the species.
There are plenty of theories that aim to answer the age-old question of “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Lots of references to such a perplexity have been made not only in the writings of the philosophers and the findings of the scientific community, but also in popular culture as well. Cartoons, movies, and television specials have all joined the discussion, albeit in artistic and entertaining ways. While others opt for either the egg or the chicken, some have also concluded that there’s no right answer. After all, a circle has no beginning.
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