• Question: What's in the egg? embryo of the animal?

    Asked by junehur to Andrew, Daniel, Hayley, Natalia, Peta on 17 Nov 2011.
    • Photo: Daniel Scully

      Daniel Scully answered on 16 Nov 2011:

      I believe an egg starts off as a single cell, all it contains is a single cell nucleus with DNA inside and a little bit of yolk – some nutrients to start it growing.

      That is until it is fertilised by a a sperm, which is also a single cell.
      These cells then combine their genetic material, and can use the yolk to start reproducing – this is when it becomes an embryo.

      The cells make more and more cells, getting bigger and bigger all the time and becoming more and more like the animal the egg and sperm came from.

      I’m not sure that the difference between an embryo and when it becomes a new animal is very well defined, but at some point it’s ready to survive outside the womb (or egg if it’s a bird).

      I’m not a biologist though…

    • Photo: Peta Foster

      Peta Foster answered on 16 Nov 2011:

      Yes the embryo is within the egg like Daniel said…

      … there are some very nice videos of what happens to the embryo…

      showing from Egg to Chick 😀

    • Photo: Andrew Cairns

      Andrew Cairns answered on 17 Nov 2011:

      I always thought the egg was just the female part, which is in that little bit of membrane mess you get beside the yolk in an egg?

      (we’re talking about chicken eggs, right?)

      The rest is just protein for the chick to eat before hatching. Am I making this up? It’s 4am and I haven’t had sleep. I once did see a chick being born out of an egg, they have to really chisel their way out!

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