Humans have been screwing with livestock for a while now. With genetic modification and weird hormonal stuff so easily implemented, we now have a significantly fatter crop of chickens strutting around, for example. But this one phenom is simply a freak of nature case: A chicken laid an egg within an egg. It's basically a very primitive Russian nesting dolls scenario transferred into a pastoral sense. It makes me feel uncomfortable, despite its scientific explanation which I'll jump in to in just a second.
Chicken eggs can vary a lot. For example, shell color may change due to stress or hen age. Also, the shell color depends pretty heavily on the chicken breed—like Olive Eggers, their eggs usually have a greenish tint to them. Double yolks in an egg happen when two yolks release into a hen's oviduct basically with zero time in between and get closed up in the same egg. See? Science explains everything, at least in the realm of chicken eggs (and really, what else matters?). So that means this egg within an egg one chicken wrangler found isn't necessarily some elaborate prank. But seriously, I cannot imagine the pain the poor hen laying this egg experienced while doing so because it is freaking huge. Look at it compared to a normal egg from the same hen:
A real boomer, right? Apparently, this weird, rare occurrence, called counter-peristalsis contraction, happens not too differently from how double-yolked eggs are formed. Let's back it up a little, first, and review some key terms and reproductive information. An ovum is a cell offspring-producing female animals have that once fertilized, can become an offspring. (Don't feel badly if you don't remember this from junior high sex ed; I didn't either.) Basically, with chickens, this ovum takes a slow ride into the oviduct, gathering thin layers of shell along the way. OK, so we solid with that? Now we can get into how counter-peristalsis contraction happens, aka, these bizarre egg inception.
A second ovum drops into the oviduct before the first is finished making its way out into the world ("being laid"). This clearly causes a disruption, screwing everything up. The second ovum gets rushed along prematurely while the first gets force backwards back up into the oviduct. So then, the second one gets scooted along and catches the first in its shelling process, covering them both in albumen, the egg white. Then they're both shelled together, forming a cartoonishly gigantic egg.
Hey! That's kinda gross! I don't know. I mean, science, yes, is very cool and the explanation is fascinating but when I think of cracking open an exceptionally large egg to find another normal-sized one inside, I think that'd probably end my craving for an omelette. See this man's surprise when he crack a big 'un:
Hmm. Something similar happened to a dude in England (or at least he sounds English, not sure where he actually filmed the video). Here he is getting learnt:
Trying to pretend the succession of both videos so early in the morning is not making my stomach churn. It's fine. This is...natural. And OK. And I might never eat eggs again but it's all good. Anyway, now we all know.
Images: Getty Images; Elman511/YouTube (2)
