This question still bothers me...this is a PhD forum with some obviously bright people.

So what do you think--from a theoretical/scientific standpoint of course!

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Which, it being breakfast time in Americaland, reminds me of the Simon and Garfunkel song about a chicken and egg breakfast plate--the Mother and Child Reunion! Really. I cannot stomach eggs after that.

The egg came first. Then the chicken.

The egg was laid by the genetic predecessor of the chicken, which was probably fowl, but not actually a member of the species Gallus Gallus (aka domesticated chicken). It may have belonged to the same genus though and would have probably resembled the chicken.

That is if you believe in evolution. If you don't you probably are on the wrong board.

Perhaps the question is not so much "which came first?" but "why do we care which came first?"

I think we care about which came first for the obvious reasons that we also wonder why the chicken crossed the road, why the boy threw the clock out the window, and what is big and red and eats rocks...intellectual curiousity of course!

Without these pondering thought provoking questions, we would have no academia, no science. Gravity would have gone undiscovered and we would be left floating through space...unless of course you prefer the Flying Spaghetti Monster to evolution!!!

So..which came first Genus Galla or the egg....

The egg again, which was laid by the genetic ancestor, which probably came from the same family, but formed the separate genus.

To be fair though, it probably wouldn't have just been one egg. It is more likely that there would have been a sub-species within that family that all started laying eggs with adaptive features, that would compete against the existing species and prevail. The survival of the fittest and all that, and eventually this group became a distinct genus in its own right.

It's a no-answer question. bright people know when to give an exact answer and when not to

Its a fun conjectural answer to a hypothetical question.

Bright people know when not to take things so seriously...

Look, the Egg McMuffin is only available in the mornings before 10:30am and the McChicken burger only after 10:30am. It's NEVER the other way round. Case closed.

So what do you all think about the Sausage and Egg Bagle (or Muffin)? I have to admit that I love it.

I prefer the McDonalds breakfast burrito---yummy!

I think you two are bordering on creationist nuttery. Can we stick to a scientific evidence-based chicken-n-egg discussion please.

Please check out the Flying Spaghetti Monster ( www.venganza.org) which demonstrates, regardless of whether the chicken or egg came first, pasta was prime ( evera? not with out veggies I suppose, and without the eggs no carbonara either).

I should clarify: I was going at it more from the angle "why do we ask, which came first and not which came second ... " Hmmm ....

Belisarius--the question is asked, I believe, out of intellectual curiousity! One of the mysteries of the ages!