The question of whether the chicken or the egg came first is a tale as old as time. Throughout history, philosophers and scientists have pondered over this riddle, seeking answers in theology, biology, and evolution… but scientists have finally given us the answer.

Notably, Christian philosophers like Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas posited that the chicken came first, created by God as part of the animal kingdom. However, a modern scientific twist to this age-old question has been provided by researchers from BBC Science, shedding light on the debate with evolutionary evidence.

According to scientists, the answer leans in favour of the egg. “Eggs are much older than chickens,” they argue, pointing out that dinosaurs, the predecessors of modern birds, laid eggs long before chickens appeared on the scene. They explain, “Dinosaurs laid eggs, the fish that first crawled out of the sea laid eggs, and the weird articulated monsters that swam in the warm shallow seas of the Cambrian Period 500 million years ago also laid eggs.” In contrast, domestic chickens, as we know them today, only started appearing around 10,000 years ago.

BBC Science Focus’s Luis Villazon further clarifies, “But it doesn’t matter; at some point in evolutionary history when there were no chickens, two birds that were almost-but-not-quite chickens mated and laid an egg that hatched into the first chicken.” This explanation underscores the evolutionary process, suggesting that the egg predates the chicken, albeit the egg in question wasn’t laid by a chicken as we recognise today.

Are you satisfied with the answer?

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