Chicken or Egg: What came first? | Are Eggs Veg or Non Veg? | Dhruv Rathee

Summary

This video script delves into the age-old chicken-or-egg conundrum, tracing the evolutionary history of eggs back 375 million years and chickens to 3,500 years ago. It explains that eggs came first, with the first chicken hatching from a proto-chicken's egg due to genetic mutation. The script also addresses the debate on whether eggs are vegetarian, concluding that most eggs consumed are unfertilized and thus vegetarian. It touches on artificial selection's role in the evolution of chickens and other species, prompting reflection on what is natural and ethical in human-animal relationships.

Takeaways

• 🐣 The age-old chicken or egg dilemma is addressed with an evolutionary perspective, suggesting that eggs existed before chickens due to the evolutionary timeline.
• 🦖 Dinosaurs laid eggs, and birds evolved from them, with the first birds appearing around 150 million years ago, while the common chicken is a more recent development.
• 🔬 Evolution is a complex and non-linear process, with some dinosaurs evolving into larger species like the T-Rex, and others into smaller birds.
• 🥚 The hard-shelled egg evolved around 300 million years ago, long before the domestic chicken, which was domesticated around 3,500 years ago.
• 🌾 The domestication of the red jungle fowl in Southeast Asia led to the modern chicken through a process of artificial selection over thousands of years.
• 🔬 The first true chicken was born from an egg laid by an ancestor species, which was genetically mutated to create the first chicken DNA.
• 🥚 Most eggs consumed by humans are unfertilized and therefore do not contain a developing embryo, making them vegetarian according to the video.
• 🌱 The Supreme Court of India ruled in 2004 that eggs are considered vegetarian, supporting the idea that unfertilized eggs do not contain meat or life.
• 🥚 Eggs are highly nutritious, containing a variety of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and have been promoted by the Indian government to combat malnutrition.
• 🐔 The number of eggs laid by chickens annually has been significantly increased through artificial selection, with modern chickens laying 200-300 eggs a year compared to their ancestors' 10-15.
• 🌱 Artificial selection has been a driving force in the evolution of not only animals but also plants, with many of our crops being the result of human-guided evolution.

Q & A

What is the age-old question often asked as a riddle in the script?

The age-old question often asked as a riddle in the script is 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?'

What does the script suggest about the relationship between T-Rex and modern chickens?

The script suggests that T-Rex and modern chickens share a common ancestor, with T-Rex's closest living relatives being present-day chickens and ostriches.

How old is the practice of laying eggs among animals, according to the script?

According to the script, the practice of laying eggs among animals dates back to 375 million years ago with the emergence of the animal Tiktaalik Roseae.

What is the difference between haploid and diploid eggs as described in the script?

Haploid eggs are unfertilized and contain only the female sex cells, while diploid eggs are fertilized and can give birth to a new life.

What is the script's stance on whether eggs are vegetarian or non-vegetarian?

The script states that most eggs we consume are unfertilized and therefore vegetarian, as they do not contain any meat nor can a life emerge from them.

What is the role of artificial selection in the evolution of chickens, as discussed in the script?

Artificial selection, through human interference and selective breeding, has led to the present-day situation where chickens lay 200-300 eggs a year, which is a significant increase from their ancestors' 10-15 eggs a year.

What is the script's explanation for the difference between brown and white eggs?

The script explains that the difference between brown and white eggs is due to the breed of the chicken laying the egg, and nutritionally, both are very similar.

How does the script describe the process of evolution in the context of the chicken's domestication?

The script describes the process of evolution in the context of the chicken's domestication as a gradual, stage by stage, generation by generation process, not a sudden event.

What does the script suggest about the origins of the common chicken?

The script suggests that the common chicken evolved from the wild red jungle fowl, which was domesticated by humans around 1500 BC in Southeast Asia.

What is the script's reference to the Supreme Court of India's stance on eggs being vegetarian?

The script refers to the Supreme Court of India's 2004 ruling that eggs are considered vegetarian, allowing their sale in religious places.

What is the script's mention of the global non-profit organization DKMS and its relevance to the topic?

The script mentions DKMS as a global non-profit organization that works to unite stem cell donors and patients, offering a free process to register as a donor, which is unrelated to the main topic but serves as a call to action for viewers.

Outlines

00:00

🐣 The Riddle of the Chicken and the Egg

This paragraph delves into the classic chicken-or-egg conundrum, exploring the evolutionary history of birds and their eggs. It explains that birds evolved from dinosaurs around 150 million years ago, and that the common ancestor of chickens and T-Rex dinosaurs laid eggs, which are much older than the chicken species itself. The video posits that the egg came before the chicken, with the first chicken hatching from an egg laid by a non-chicken ancestor, a 'proto-chicken.' The paragraph also touches on the broader concept of evolution and how it doesn't follow a linear path but adapts in various directions based on environmental pressures.

05:00

🌿 Evolution, Eggs, and Vegetarianism

The second paragraph discusses the forces of evolution and the concept of artificial selection, contrasting it with natural selection. It clarifies the difference between haploid and diploid eggs, explaining that unfertilized eggs cannot produce life and thus are considered vegetarian, while fertilized eggs are not. The paragraph also addresses the topic of parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction seen in some plants and animals, and confirms that chickens do not exhibit this trait. It concludes by discussing the nutritional value of eggs, their classification as vegetarian by the Supreme Court of India in 2004, and their importance in combating malnutrition.

10:04

🥚 The Impact of Artificial Selection on Egg Laying

This paragraph examines the role of artificial selection in the evolution of chickens, particularly their increased egg-laying capacity. It dispels the myth that brown eggs are healthier than white eggs, attributing the color difference to the breed of the chicken. The speaker highlights how selective breeding by humans has led to modern chickens laying significantly more eggs annually compared to their ancestors, the Red Jungle Fowl. The paragraph also touches on the broader implications of artificial selection in other animals and plants, including the transformation of wild mustard into various vegetables and the domestication of bananas to have fewer seeds.

15:05

🌱 Reflections on Natural and Unnatural Practices

The final paragraph ponders the concepts of natural and unnatural practices, particularly in the context of agriculture and domestication. It references Yuval Noah Harari's 'Sapiens' to illustrate how the cultivation of wheat has dramatically altered human lifestyles and the environment. The speaker invites viewers to consider the ethical and environmental implications of human interference in nature, including selective breeding and farming. The paragraph concludes by posing questions about dietary choices and encourages viewers to form their own opinions on whether to be vegetarian, vegan, or non-vegetarian based on the information provided.

Keywords

💡Evolution

Evolution refers to the process by which species of organisms change over time through genetic variation and natural selection. In the video, it is central to understanding how chickens and eggs have developed over millions of years. The script explains that birds, and eventually chickens, evolved from dinosaurs, and that the modern chicken as we know it has been shaped by both natural and artificial selection.

💡Chicken or Egg

The 'chicken or egg' conundrum is a causality dilemma often used to question the nature of time and the sequence of events. In the context of the video, it is used to introduce the topic of evolution and to explore scientifically which came first in the lineage leading to the modern chicken—the egg or the chicken. The script suggests that the egg came first, but not laid by a chicken.

💡Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are a group of reptiles that lived millions of years ago during the Mesozoic Era. The script mentions that around 150 million years ago, some dinosaurs started getting smaller, eventually evolving into birds. This is relevant to the video's theme as it establishes a connection between dinosaurs and the evolution of the chicken.

💡Tiktaalik Roseae

Tiktaalik Roseae is an extinct species of fish that is considered a transitional fossil, showing characteristics of both fish and tetrapods. The video script uses Tiktaalik Roseae to illustrate the ancient practice of laying eggs among animals, even before the evolution of birds.

💡Eggshell

An eggshell is a hard, protective outer layer of an egg, which provides a barrier against physical harm and desiccation. The script explains that eggs with hard outer shells evolved around 300 million years ago, which is significant in the context of the video as it discusses the timeline of egg evolution.

💡Domestication

Domestication refers to the process by which wild species become adapted to live alongside humans and to be kept by them. In the video, the domestication of the wild red jungle fowl is highlighted as the starting point of the evolution into the modern chicken, showing how human interaction can influence species evolution.

💡Gallus Gallus

Gallus Gallus is the scientific name for the red jungle fowl, which is an ancestor of the domestic chicken. The script uses this term to differentiate between the wild and domestic species, with the latter being named Gallus Gallus Domesticus, emphasizing the genetic link and evolutionary process.

💡Proto-chicken

A 'proto-chicken' is a theoretical ancestor of the modern chicken that would have existed before the species as we know it today. The video script uses this term to discuss the evolutionary process that led to the first true chicken, suggesting that a genetic mutation in an egg from a proto-chicken led to the first chicken.

💡Parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which an unfertilized egg develops into a new individual. The video script explains that while some species can reproduce in this way, chickens cannot, and most eggs consumed by humans are unfertilized, thus not containing any potential life.

💡Artificial Selection

Artificial selection is a process where humans selectively breed individuals with certain desirable traits, leading to the proliferation of those traits in future generations. The script discusses how artificial selection has led to modern chickens laying many more eggs per year compared to their wild ancestors.

💡HLA Typing

HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) typing is a test to determine a person's tissue type for the purpose of organ or stem cell transplants. The video script mentions a global non-profit organization, DKMS, which encourages people to register as stem cell donors by identifying their HLA type, showing the script's broader social message about the importance of such initiatives.

Highlights

The age-old chicken or egg riddle is explored, with an evolutionary perspective.

Evolution of birds from dinosaurs around 150 million years ago is discussed.

Dinosaurs, including T-Rex, and modern chickens share a common ancestor.

Ostriches resemble dinosaurs due to their shared ancestry with T-Rex.

Dinosaurs laid eggs, a practice that dates back 375 million years with Tiktaalik Roseae.

Eggs with hard shells evolved around 300 million years ago.

Domestication of the wild red jungle fowl led to the modern chicken around 1500 BC.

The scientific distinction between the wild jungle fowl and the domestic chicken.

Eggs evolved significantly earlier than chickens, with a clear timeline provided.

The genetic mutation during reproduction that led to the first true chicken.

Eggs are classified as vegetarian or non-vegetarian based on fertilization.

Parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction, is explained.

Unfertilized chicken eggs do not develop into chicks, unlike some species.

The Indian Supreme Court's ruling that eggs are considered vegetarian.

Nutritional benefits of eggs, including various vitamins and minerals.

The difference between brown and white eggs is due to the breed of the chicken, not nutrition.

Artificial selection by humans has led to modern chickens laying many more eggs annually.

Discussion on artificial selection in various animals and plants, including bananas.

The philosophical question of what is natural and unnatural in the context of human intervention.

A call to action for viewers to register as stem cell donors to help save lives.

Transcripts

Hello, friends!

An age-old question that is often asked as a riddle:

Which came first? Chicken or egg?

If you say chicken, the question arises

which egg did the first chicken hatch from?

And if you say egg, the question arises

which chicken laid the first egg?

And perhaps, the most controversial question about eggs is

whether eggs are vegetarian or non-vegetarian?

Let's answer these questions in this video.

This video is the third part of my evolution series.

The two videos I have made on evolution before this,

are linked in the description.

You can watch them later.

Come, let me teach you

the mystery of eggs.

What is the mystery of an egg?

About 150 million years ago,

when the earth was ruled by dinosaurs.

Small dinosaurs, big dinosaurs,

dinosaurs that ran, dinosaurs that flew.

This was the time when due to evolution,

some dinosaurs started getting smaller

and birds started evolving.

The first birds evolved around this time.

And as I told you in the earlier videos,

evolution doesn't happen in a linear direction.

It can happen in any direction, wherever it fits.

So, some dinosaurs evolved into scarier dinosaurs like T-Rex

and some dinosaurs got smaller and evolved into birds.

This is why it is said that

the common chicken today and the dinosaur T-Rex

had a common ancestor.

In fact, the T-Rex's closest living relatives

are present-day chickens and ostriches.

Look at an ostrich closely some time

they give off a lot of dinosaur vibes because of this.

And all dinosaurs used to lay eggs like these ostriches and chickens.

In fact, even before the birds evolved,

dinosaurs used to lay eggs.

Among animals, the art of laying eggs is ancient.

375 million years ago,

when this animal named Tiktaalik Roseae,

came out of the water and started living on land,

it laid eggs too.

But the eggs laid by it

did not look like the chicken eggs today.

Here, you need to imagine the eggs laid by fish.

They do not have an outer shell.

This animal must have laid some similar eggs.

So if we talk about chicken eggs and such,

which have a hard outer membrane, a shell,

their evolution took place around 300 million years ago.

And if we compare these eggs with a chicken,

then the evolution of chicken

took place only 3,500 years ago.

You heard it right,

around 1500 BC.

In Southeast Asia, people started farming

rice and millet.

A large quantity of grains were grown,

which attracted a wild animal living in the nearby jungle.

This animal was a wild red jungle fowl,

which looks like this,

very similar to a chicken.

But the difference is that it lived in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

When humans started farming,

it started living near the farms

because of the grains.

And around this time,

humans started domesticating it.

Because of this domestication,

it evolved through thousands of years,

and it evolved into today's chicken.

This species of jungle fowl is still alive.

You can still find it in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

But if you compare it to a common chicken,

you can see some differences.

The scientific name for this jungle fowl species

is Gallus Gallus.

And the scientific name for a common chicken is

Gallus Gallus Domesticus.

So one thing is clear here

that eggs are 300 million years old

and chicken is 3,500 years old.

So eggs evolved much earlier than chicken.

But you will say that the 300 million years old eggs were not laid by a chicken.

So the next question here is,

did chicken come first or chicken's eggs?

If you want to guess the answer to this question,

you can pause the video and write it in the comments.

It is not so difficult to get to the answer

if you understand the stages of evolution.

It's very simple.

Chicken evolved from wild red jungle fowl.

This wild red jungle fowl must have evolved from another animal.

Let's call that animal a proto-chicken.

The ancestors of the chicken.

So, there must have been a point in time

when two proto-chickens mated.

During reproduction, there must have been genetic mutations.

And due to this,

an egg was formed

from which the first true red jungle fowl was born.

And in the same way, the first chicken must have been born too.

The combination of two proto-chickens' DNA

created the first true chicken DNA.

This evolution process occurs only during reproduction.

It is only after this that

the true chicken would have laid more eggs

giving birth to more chickens.

So the answer to this question is very clear.

The egg came first.

And this egg was not laid by a chicken.

But it was given by an ancestor species of a chicken, which was almost like a chicken.

When can an animal species be called a chicken

and when should it not be called a chicken?

There is a big grey area here.

This line that has been drawn,

it has been drawn by humans.

The real differences,

must have emerged after many generations.

What are the forces of evolution

that make evolution possible?

I talked about this in the first part of the evolution series.

If you haven't watched this video, the link is in the description.

So, overall, I want to say that

it's not like there was a day in history

when the first chicken was born.

As if, on 3rd December 1500 BC,

two jungle fowls mated and laid an egg

and that egg contained the first chicken.

Evolution is not like that.

This process is gradual, stage by stage, generation by generation.

Later in the video, when I will tell you about artificial selection,

you will understand better.

Before that, let's know

whether an egg is vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

Some people will say that the answer is obvious.

Eggs contain life.

A baby hatches from the egg.

So, obviously, the egg is non-vegetarian.

But the thing is, friends,

eggs are of two types.

Haploid eggs are the unfertilized eggs

which contain only the female sex cells.

These eggs can never produce a baby.

The other type is Diploid eggs,

which are produced after mating.

Here, male cells fertilize female sex cells

and babies hatch from these eggs.

And we often associate this process of fertilization with reproduction.

But do you know that

there are many plants many plants and animal species

that can reproduce without fertilization too?

This is called Parthenogenesis

and in these cases,

even an unfertilized egg

can give birth to a new life.

It can become a new baby.

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Now, let's get back to the topic.

We get to see this in plant species like

pineapple and banana plants.

And among animals in, lizards, zebra sharks,

and rattlesnakes,

we can see this parthenogenesis.

This word comes from the words Parthenos + Genesis,

which means Virgin + Creation.

A Virgin Creation taking place.

Without sperm, an unfertilized egg

is developing into an embryo.

So the question here is,

can we see parthenogenesis in chickens?

The straight answer to this is no.

An unfertilized chicken egg

cannot give become a chick.

And most of the eggs we eat

are unfertilized.

Some of you may be thinking,

that you saw a blood spot while eating an egg.

You might assume that that egg was fertilized.

But there is no need to worry about that either.

Because that's not true.

When a hen lays eggs,

some small blood vessels near the ovaries

sometimes burst and rupture.

So the drops of blood are from there.

Those of you who regularly eat eggs

must have noticed these blood spots.

But now you don't have to worry that

a chick might hatch from the egg.

So back to our question, you must have understood that

eggs can be vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

But most of the eggs that we eat

are unfertilized, so they are vegetarian.

Because these eggs neither have any meat

nor can a life emerge from them.

These eggs can be compared to milk.

Mahatma Gandhi said the same thing.

Those who drink milk

should not have any problem with these sterile, unfertilized eggs.

And the same point was reiterated by the Supreme Court in 2004.

The court was hearing a matter

about whether eggs should be allowed to be sold in religious places like Rishikesh or not.

Supreme Court held that

eggs are vegetarian.

Overall, eggs are a highly nutritious food.

It has a lot of protein.

Vitamin B12, B2, B5,

Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Selenium,

Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Zinc,

Manganese, Vitamin E, Antioxidants.

It's full of a lot of nutrients.

This is why the Indian government used to run ads

to encourage people to eat eggs daily.

This was a good food source to fight malnutrition.

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Now, some eggs are brown and some are white.

And people think that brown eggs are healthier than white eggs

because brown bread is healthier than white bread.

But actually, this is not the case with eggs.

The difference between white and brown

is due to the breed of the chicken.

The breed of the chicken laying the egg.

And nutritionally, both brown and white eggs

are very similar to each other.

Another interesting thing to know here is that

today, chickens lay around 200-300 eggs in a year.

But their ancestors, the Red Jungle Fowl,

only laid around 10-15 eggs in a year.

How did this happen?

What was the force of evolution

that made chickens evolve in a way that

they lay more eggs?

The answer is, friends,

here, natural selection played no role at all.

Here, evolution occured

due to artificial selection.

Due to human interference.

Humans practised selective breeding of chickens.

Thousands of years ago, a person might have noticed

a chicken laying more eggs.

Selectively, that chicken was bred

to have an offspring that laid even more eggs.

It was done to the next generation too.

This kept on repeating again and again.

Artificial selection was carried out by humans

which led to the present-day situation where

a chicken lays 200-300 eggs a year.

Many people will find this human intervention unnatural.

But humans do this artificial selection

in cows and buffaloes as well.

The cow that gives more milk

is artificially bred by farmers.

Or some other hereditary traits

that are more beneficial to farmers

are selectively bred

so that it is more prominent in future generations.

Now, hearing this, the vegans would say,

that this is a reason why we should not consume milk.

Because humans keep interfering everywhere.

Humans have bred these animals for their own benefit.

But the thing is, friends,

humans have not only bred animals like this

but have also bred trees and plants by artificial selection.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage

all these vegetables have evolved from wild mustard plants

after thousands of years of artificial selection.

Had you eaten a banana from a banana plant 7,000 years ago

firstly, it would've been smaller.

Secondly, once you peeled the banana to eat it

you would have seen many black seeds in it.

There were so many seeds in a banana

that it would've been difficult to eat it.

Like a present-day pomegranate.

In this photo, you can see,

what bananas looked like back then.

When humans started the artificial breeding of bananas,

they chose the fruits

with fewer seeds.

After repeatedly choosing it,

these seeds have now gone extinct after thousands of years.

And we can eat these big yellow bananas

which have no seeds.

If you think about it,

artificial breeding must have been natural initially.

If you see an apple tree,

and you see an apple that is the biggest,

reddest and juiciest of all,

and you get a chance to grow an apple tree in your garden,

obviously, you will choose the seed of the fruit to grow the new tree

the fruit which was the biggest, juiciest, and reddest.

On the other hand, some people argue that

this entire thing is unnatural.

Since humans started farming,

agriculture was unnatural in itself.

12,000 years ago,

the time when agriculture began.

Before that, humans lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Living in the jungle,

killing small animals,

or eating fruits from trees.

In his book Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari states that

10,000 years ago wheat was merely a wild grass

which was found in some regions of the Middle East.

But in the last few thousand years,

wheat has spread so much all across the world that

now, wheat occupies 2.25 million square kilometres of the earth's surface.

Homo Erectus, who were the ancestors of humans,

I had mentioned them in my second video on evolution.

They were living comfortably for 2 million years

without farming.

And when the domestication of wheat began around 8000 BC,

Homo Sapiens were also living comfortably for 200,000 years without farming.

But because of wheat,

we cut down trees, started farming,

and we made clear fields

because wheat didn't like stones and rocky area.

We removed different weed plants from the fields

because wheat did not like them.

We brought buckets full of water from the rivers to irrigate the fields

because wheat needed a lot of water to grow.

We used new techniques to drive away insects and pests

because wheat did not like insects and pests.

Natural insecticides were first used about 4,500 years ago

by the Sumerians,

who used sulfur compounds to drive away insects and pests

during farming.

Yuval Noah Harari says in his book that

when humans started domesticating wheat

it was wheat that domesticated humans

because humans changed their lives to farm.

Now another question arises here.

What is natural and what is unnatural?

What is good for the earth, good for nature

and what is not?

Should you be a vegetarian or a vegan

or a non-vegetarian?

This is a question that can be made into a separate video.

So I would like to end today's video here

and I would like you to think about it yourself.

Form your opinion on this question

based on what I have told you so far

before I explain it to you in a new video.

If you liked this video,

then the history of human ancestors and the entire story of the evolution of homo sapiens

can be understood in this video by clicking here.

It has been explained in great detail.

Thank you very much.

And don't forget to register on the link given in the description

to become a stem cell donor.

It is a completely free process.