What came first the chicken or the egg?

Question: What came first the chicken or the egg?
- Keywords:
  chicken,
  egg,
  evolution
Asked by anon-181148 on 8 Jun 2018.
- Damian Mole answered on 8 Jun 2018:
  
  I love this question! I read a great article that used evolutionary genomics – studying all of our DNA including the genes and the bits in between the genes – to show that the hardening of the shell of an egg – when it gets calcified – is more recent in evolutionary terms than birds, which are modern dinosaurs, really. So the chicken came before the egg – at least eggs as we know them now!
- Claire Donald answered on 8 Jun 2018:
  
  What a question! I’m going to play devil’s advocate to Damian’s answer and say the egg came first! Darwin’s theory of evolution says that life comes from a common ancestor and that genetic mutations build up over time to make a new species. So before chickens, there were birds that were genetically similar to chickens but weren’t proper chickens. These chicken ancestors mated and produced offspring inside an egg which contained mutations that made it different from its parents- the first chicken! Therefore the egg came first.
- Lauren Burns answered on 8 Jun 2018:
  
  This is a great question! And a perfect eggs-ample of how scientists debate; they state where they are coming from and back it up with evidence. It always makes for fun discussions!
- Ashley Akbari answered on 9 Jun 2018:
  
  Cracking question and one that will always split the people you ask with, personally i would go with the chicken first as i think you need the chicken to produce an egg before the chicken before the egg before the chicken…. maybe one to consult the hen-cyclopedia on.
- Hannah Farley answered on 10 Jun 2018:
  
  Dinosaurs laid eggs – as do other species, so I reckon eggs have been around longer.
- Laura Hemming answered on 10 Jun 2018:
  
  This question’s got me scrambled.. Always guaranteed to be an egg-splosive question!

Question: What came first the chicken or the egg?

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