Which Came First, the Hawk or the Egg?

We’ve all heard the age-old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg. But what about the hawk and the egg? That’s the subject that evolutionary biologist Scott Freeman and his colleagues set out to answer in a recent study.

Their research took a close look at the DNA of hawks and their eggs. They wanted to pinpoint when the genes responsible for laying eggs first evolved.

Using a technique called molecular dating, Freeman and his team were able to estimate that the genes for laying eggs originated around 125 million years ago.

• That means that hawks came first, and they evolved the ability to lay eggs later on.
• This finding is consistent with the fossil record, which
• shows that the earliest known hawks lived around 130 million years ago.

So, the next time you see a hawk soaring through the sky, remember that it is a descendant of a long line of egg-laying ancestors.

The answer to this question has implications for understanding the evolution of birds in general. Birds are a diverse group of animals, and they lay a wide variety of eggs. Some eggs are small and white, while others are large and colorful. Some eggs are laid in nests, while others are laid on the ground.

The fact that hawks came first and then evolved the ability to lay eggs suggests that the ability to lay eggs is a relatively recent evolutionary development. This is consistent with the idea that birds evolved from reptiles, which lay eggs.