which came first the chicken or the egg?
Dear Bass
Hens..
Short answer
Dinosaur Eggs
long answer
Science
Evolution
The theory of evolution states that species change over time via mutation and natural selection. Since DNA can be modified only before birth, a mutation must have taken place at conception or within an egg such that an animal similar to a chicken, but not a chicken, laid the first chicken egg.In this light, both the egg and the chicken evolved simultaneously from birds that were not chickens and did not lay chicken eggs but gradually became more and more like chickens over time.
However, a mutation in one individual is not normally considered a new species. A speciation event involves the separation of one population from its parent population, so that interbreeding ceases; this is the process whereby domesticated animals are genetically separated from their wild forebears. The whole separated group can then be recognized as a new species.
The modern chicken was believed to have descended from another closely related species of birds, the red junglefowl, but recently discovered genetic evidence suggests that the modern domestic chicken is a hybrid descendant of both the red junglefowl and the grey junglefowl.[14] Assuming the evidence bears out, a hybrid is a compelling scenario that the chicken egg, based on the second definition, came before the chicken.
Theology
Creationism
Judeo-Christian writings indicate God's creation of birds along with the rest of the universe. The Judeo-Christian story of creation describes God creating birds, and commanding them to multiply, but makes no direct mention of eggs. According to Genesis 1:
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.[15]
A literal historic account of Genesis would place the chicken before the egg.
In Hindu writings, creation of birds (and other life forms) by God through superhuman beings is stated in Purāṇas and Dharmaśāstras. However, if one broadens one's definition of "an egg" to include non-chicken egg, the Hindu mythology also mentions a "cosmic egg" from which the universe as known to humans originated. In this sense this supreme egg comes before all creatures, including chickens and chicken eggs. This egg is known as Brahmanda: "Brahma: creator" and "anda": egg. The primordial egg is also depicted as a Lingam.
Cyclical view of time
In Buddhism there is the belief of the wheel of time which regards time as cyclical and with repeating ages, as some other cultures such as Mesoamerican (Aztecs, Mayan) and some native American Indians believe. Their idea of time gives a different answer to the question of "who is first" when combined with the concept of eternal return which is well known in the Western culture through the writings of Nietzsche. The assumption is that time is eternally repetitive and therefore, there is no "first" in eternity, there is no creation. The answer then becomes: None is first. There is no "first" in a cyclical view of time.
Definition of the chicken egg
An overlooked method of approaching the question is to base the answer from the definition of the chicken egg. Is the chicken egg an egg that was directly laid by a chicken, or an egg that resulted directly in the birth of a chicken (chick)? Consequently by definition, according to the former, the chicken came first. If however, the definition was based on the latter, then the chicken egg came first.
However, it would seem that this method attempts to answer a slightly different question than the one posed by philosophers, as the former attempts to determine whether a certain egg came before or after a chicken, while the latter attempts to determine whether eggs universally came before chickens, or vice versa.
Saludos
Edgar