The egg came first. Evolutionarily, birds evolved from reptiles. The first amniotic eggs evolved about 340 million years ago, the first bird-like animals evolved about 150 million years ago. Chicken-like animals evolved about 58,000 years ago with the first true chicken coming along only about 8,000 years ago.
While eggs clearly came before birds and chickens, what about specifically “chicken eggs?” Which came first, the “chicken animal” or the “chicken egg?” This answer is less clear, but I believe the chicken egg came first. That first true chicken hatched from an egg laid by a bird that was not quite a chicken. In evolution, one trait evolves after another. At some point, a non-chicken animal laid a “chicken egg” with the final trait that defines a chicken. So, that chicken egg hatched the first true chicken.
Defining that last trait or set of traits might be quite difficult and is perhaps a meaningless nuance. After all, after that first true chicken mated with an almost true chicken animal, their offspring were likely a mix of chicken-like and true-chicken animals. Okay, now we’re getting into the weeds a little too much, but I think you get the idea.
1 thought on “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”
From Prabhat on Facebook: “As per vedas life come from sound”
Prabhat brought an ancient Vedic tradition idea to the exploration of the creation of new things. I replied with the following:
You refer to the Vedic tradition of “Om” (or “Aum”), which dates back as early as 1100 BCE and later came to be understood as the primordial sound from which all creation emerges. From what I understand, this idea may have taken on deeper significance after Gargi Vachaknavi’s time, likely developing between 700 BCE and 300 BCE. The belief is that all creation stems from the vibrations of sound. I hope I have that right—please feel free to correct me if your belief differs.
I’m curious how you reconcile this with our modern understanding of the expanding universe. In the scientific, albeit still speculative, explanation of the singularity, the material world is said to have emerged from an infinitely dense point, seemingly from “nothing.” Do you see the ancient concept of “Om” as reflecting this idea of creation from nothing? Perhaps you believe that the sound portion of the singularity led to the vibrations that eventually gave rise to the material world? I understand that material emerging from sound is not part of modern physics, but I’m interested in how you might connect these ancient beliefs with modern science.