I'd prefer if Gaian questions went to the column suggestion thread instead of here 3nodding
An example:
`Trinity
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Jessk
Technically speaking, chickens are not the only creature to lay eggs. Therefore, I believe it is likely that certain reptiles, birds, and hybrids of the two were probably laying eggs well before the birth of the first actual chicken. We have fossil evidence of very old eggs. In fact, fish have eggs as well, and we have reason to believe there were fish species around well before any of this silly land animal nonsense.
If you are talking about chicken eggs though, it can get a bit more complex. There are two possibilities: One is that the species evolved into a chicken before it evolved its ability to lay eggs. This is not very likely, especially with what I just said about preexisting species and eggs. The second is that something egg-laying evolved into a chicken. Now, I wasn't around to witness it, nor would I venture to say when the first chicken came about in the grand scheme of things.. or what would particularly differentiate a chicken from any other slowly evolving proto-chicken.. but I'm willing to bet it came out of an egg.
Case closed? Maybe not. Dealing purely with semantics: is a chicken egg an egg laid by a chicken or an egg that will become a chicken? If it is the former, then the chicken had to come first. If it is the latter, then the egg clearly predates the chicken.
If you are talking about chicken eggs though, it can get a bit more complex. There are two possibilities: One is that the species evolved into a chicken before it evolved its ability to lay eggs. This is not very likely, especially with what I just said about preexisting species and eggs. The second is that something egg-laying evolved into a chicken. Now, I wasn't around to witness it, nor would I venture to say when the first chicken came about in the grand scheme of things.. or what would particularly differentiate a chicken from any other slowly evolving proto-chicken.. but I'm willing to bet it came out of an egg.
Case closed? Maybe not. Dealing purely with semantics: is a chicken egg an egg laid by a chicken or an egg that will become a chicken? If it is the former, then the chicken had to come first. If it is the latter, then the egg clearly predates the chicken.
