Egg Within an Egg

By John Farrier in Animals & Pets, Science & Tech, Video Clips on Sep 2, 2009 at 6:26 pm

This video by YouTube user Elman511 shows a chicken egg that contains another chicken egg — shell and all — inside. I suspected this was a hoax until I read about the phenomenon of ovum in ovo:

Douglas Russell, speaking about the phenomenon in the New Scientist, said: “As the curator of the British Natural History Museum egg collection, I’ve come across quite a few examples of egg oddities.

“Double eggs (as opposed to multiple-yolked eggs) are less common than some other zoological anomalies and consequently the ovum in ovo has attracted specific scholarly attention for hundreds of years.

“Several theories have been proposed for the origin of double eggs.

“The most likely suggests that the normal rhythmic muscular action, or peristalsis, that moves a developing egg down the oviduct malfunctions in some way.”

Link via Bits & Pieces

Tags: egg, Elman511, ovum in ovo

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

TwoFry
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
BIG EGG!!! IT WAS A TWO FOR ONE!! BIG EGG!!!!

The big egg is a lot bigger!!!
Justin
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I liked the little kid’s reaction:

“Weeeeiirrrdddd”
lisanocap
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
the guy in the video is a big egg
ragazzambulante
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 8:10 pm
all I could think when I saw that was, “Oh, the poor chicken that had to pass that thing….”
ilikecows13
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Exactly Ragazzambulante (now that was interesting typing): Maybe because I’ve had two kids, I actually feel supersorry for that poor hen. Do chickens grimace? Groan in agony? Try different birthing positions????
ilikecows13
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Also, does the guy sort of remind you of Ben from Lost? Kinda creepy in a nice, but menacing kind of way?
LisaL
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Lol, no not Ben from Lost, he reminds me of the actor that played Max Headroom… lol

Anywho… that was pretty neat. I’ve had an egg w/ double yolk before, but never that.

I’m not sure if it’s a groan in agony, but hens def do make sounds when they’re laying.
aging hipster
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
When I was a baker, I cracked open an egg that had two yolks, and then another and then another and another… the ENTIRE box (I’m talking 6 levels of 30 eggs each) had double yolks. It still makes me wonder what they’re doing to those hens!

(BTW- I’m on Team BigEgg! I like that guy!)
JMM
Sep 2nd, 2009 at 11:25 pm
The Ooh-Ahh bird is so named from its tendency to lay square eggs.
SimonSays
Sep 3rd, 2009 at 6:34 am
I am glad I am not the only who feels sorry for the poor chicken… proves there’s still hope for this world!
Robin
Sep 3rd, 2009 at 6:51 am
Happens with humans, too. Google “fetus in fetu” and prepare to be grossed out.
Tim Giachetti
Sep 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
Boy I’m old. Used to gather eggs for my Nana, and every once in a while we would get one of these.

Doesn’t take away the “neat” factor of it for me. Still a totally cool thing.
ronald
Sep 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
Cool Egg Matroushka! Wait, so does this mean that the bigger egg can claim the smaller egg as his/her child?
Ally
Sep 3rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Eww, what ever you do, don’t eat it.
Rodney
Jan 26th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I found an egg within an egg on 1/24/2010, and I froze it, so that people will believe me when I tell them about it.
Iacobus
Jan 14th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
I found one this morning… in a boiled egg… i realise it after i break through the white.. no documentation though… but i’ve collected several witness… lol..

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