Egg Shells facts

While investigating facts about Egg Shells, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Science shows that the Egg came first, not the Chicken. 1. The first egg was laid by a bird that was not a chicken. 2. The first amniotic (hard-shelled) egg laid on land was around 312 million years ago. Chickens are domesticated descendants of red junglefowl from at most 8000 years ago.

Della Porta (1563) invented a method of writing secret messages inside eggs. Ink transferred from the shell to the boiled egg inside. The message could only be revealed when cracked and peeled

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Egg Shells I managed to collect.

1. China has been producing fake chicken eggs since the 90s. The production cost is less than half of a real egg. They are made from a mixture of resin, starch, coagulant and pigments, while algae gives them proper viscosity. The shell is made from paraffin wax, gypsum powder, and calcium carbonate

2. White-feathered chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs; red or brown ones with red earlobes lay brown eggs; and the Ameraucana breed, also known as the Eastern egg chicken, lays eggs with blue shells.

3. Female lays 4 to 6 eggs in the bare, shallow depression in the ground and then collects and accumulates pebbles, sticks, shells and various trash around the nest.

4. During Lent in medieval Europe, the definition of "fish" was often broadened to include whales, geese, puffins, and beaver tails. The nobility would also mould fish into the shape of ham and make imitation eggs by stuffing egg shells with fish roe and almond milk.

5. Female lays up to 40 leathery eggs, usually in the compost, manure or rotting vegetation, because eggs require heat during the incubation. Young snakes hatch after 6 to 8 weeks. They break the shell using the egg tooth. Newly born snakes are ready for independent life from the moment of birth.

6. They use solid object to crash the shell of the egg or they throw eggs to the hard surface to break them.

7. Female lays 8 to 20 soft-shelled eggs in abandoned burrows in the ground or under the rocks. Incubation period lasts 6 to 8 weeks. Young horned vipers reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 years.

8. Female carries around 200 fertilized eggs attached to her abdomen until they hatch. Larvae emerge from the eggs usually after few weeks and float on the surface of the ocean during the first few days of their life. Larvae undergo several development stages before they transform into juvenile hermit crabs. Terrestrial hermit crabs need to find suitable shells before they become ready to leave the water and start their life on the solid ground.

9. Egyptian vultures also eat eggs. They will use stones to break the hard outer shell. Egyptian vulture is one of the rare bird species that is clever enough to use a "tool" to get the food it wants.

10. Egg shells contain a very high amount of calcium and clinical studies show that powdered egg shells are a suitable treatment for osteoporosis

What is true about egg shells?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

Eggs are usually attached to the rocks, shells or corals. Male guards the eggs, keeps them well-oxygenated (by mixing the water with its tail) and clean (he removes detritus from the surface of eggs). Transparent larvae emerge from the eggs couple of days later.

Fertilized eggs spend winter inside the sac. Barnacles undergo two larval stages: nauplius and cyprid, before they reach adulthood. Nauplius is free-swimming larva which transforms into cyprid 6 months after hatching. Cyprid phase lasts few days or few weeks. Main goal of this phase is to find suitable substrate. Cyprid secretes sticky substance from the cement gland at the base of its antennas to glue itself to the substrate. Soon afterwards, it starts to produce hard outer shell and transform into adult barnacle.

Turtle mothers can lay 100 leathery-shelled eggs at a time in a nest that she has dug out to a depth of almost 2 feet (60 cm). The eggs look like golf-balls.

During reproductive season, female lays 15-30 eggs in the hole in the ground. Their eggs look like balloons filled with water. Baby lizards use "egg tooth" to crack the shell from the inside. They will live on the trees from the moment they are born because adult Komodo dragons can"t climb (and eat them).

During a mating period, female becomes vulnerable because she throws away her shell. After a week of mating, new shell will develop and female will have large number of eggs deposited inside her body.

The color of a chicken's earlobe can often indicate what color egg shell the chicken will produce.

In the U.S., eggs must be kept refrigerated constantly while in most countries they do not. This is because the natural waxy coating is removed which allows bacteria to invade the shell through pores and small fractures.

Hard-boiled eggs spoil faster than fresh eggs, since boiling destroys a protective coating on the shell, making it more porous to invading bacteria.

Fruit of baobab is large (up to 3.3 pounds), egg-shaped and covered with hard, hairy shell. Numerous black seed are embedded in the powdery pulp. Fruit tastes like a blend of vanilla, pear and grapefruit.

Females lay 10 to 50 hard-shelled eggs in the nests made of mud, sticks and vegetation and cover them with debris for protection.

Eggs are dark green in color, have thick shell and weight of around one pound. Male sits on eggs during the next 8 weeks, until they are ready to hatch. During that time, male does not eat but uses stored fats as a source of energy.