• stupidcasey@lemmy.world
    37·
    4 days ago

    Fun fact, ostrich eggs are nearing The largest land eggs can physically get, so even the dinosaurs didn’t have much bigger eggs.

        • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
          37·
          4 days ago

          I got curious and your assumption is correct for one of the limiting factors.

          Here is what I found:

          • The shell must be strong enough to support the egg’s weight and protect the embryo, but thin enough for the chick to break through when hatching.
          • As size increases, the weight grows cubically (volume), but shell strength only increases quadratically (surface area), so there’s a point where the shell would have to be too thick to hatch from.
          • The distance from the shell to the center increases.
          • Oxygen diffusion becomes inefficient, and the embryo could suffocate.
          • Larger eggs are harder to keep at a uniform temperature.
          • Birds incubating the eggs would need to generate and distribute more heat, which is physically demanding.
          • Max@lemmy.world
            1·
            3 days ago

            I think point two may be wrong. The strength of a shell should be proportional to its thickness, which would scale linearly with its size (assuming the shell got thicker in proportion to the size). There’s definitely a point where a self supporting egg requires very thick shells like you said, but the scaling law you gave uses the wrong change.

      • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
        11·
        4 days ago

        Here is what I found:

        • The shell must be strong enough to support the egg’s weight and protect the embryo, but thin enough for the chick to break through when hatching.
        • As size increases, the weight grows cubically (volume), but shell strength only increases quadratically (surface area), so there’s a point where the shell would have to be too thick to hatch from.
        • The distance from the shell to the center increases.
        • Oxygen diffusion becomes inefficient, and the embryo could suffocate.
        • Larger eggs are harder to keep at a uniform temperature.
        • Birds incubating the eggs would need to generate and distribute more heat, which is physically demanding.
          • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
            6·
            4 days ago

            I am not an eggspert but after a quick search it seems many bird eggs are green in colour due to a pigment called biliverdin.

            Interestingly verde is green in Spanish.

            • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
              2·
              4 days ago

              A lot of biological and other scientific terms are actually Latin or some mix of it. Bili means “Bile”. Sources say “verd” in this case comes from French verd an old way to say green (Modern: vert/verte), but in any case the French words still derive from Latin viridis.

              Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, and a few other minor languages are all descendants of Latin collectively called the Romance Languages. Speakers of one can often understand a lot of any other of the languages or Latin. Not completely mind you, but enough to get some meaning. Spanish speakers can understand a lot of written Portuguese (but not so much spoken due to pronunciation differences), Italian and Spanish speakers can almost have a conversation spoken or written. Portuguese/Italian/Spanish speakers will have a harder time with French though, they will recognize many written words but not enough to really call it totally understandable, and almost nothing spoken. Etc, etc.

        • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
          2·
          4 days ago

          Last 3 points millions of years ago the planet was much warmer with a lot more oxygen so for dinosaurs they would be moot.

      • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
        12·
        4 days ago

        Here is what I found:

        • The shell must be strong enough to support the egg’s weight and protect the embryo, but thin enough for the chick to break through when hatching.
        • As size increases, the weight grows cubically (volume), but shell strength only increases quadratically (surface area), so there’s a point where the shell would have to be too thick to hatch from.
        • The distance from the shell to the center increases.
        • Oxygen diffusion becomes inefficient, and the embryo could suffocate.
        • Larger eggs are harder to keep at a uniform temperature.
        • Birds incubating the eggs would need to generate and distribute more heat, which is physically demanding.
  • lunachocken@lemm.ee
    11·
    4 days ago

    That green look so green you could probably use the egg as a green screen

    Therefore an eggscreen

  • Yokozuna@lemmy.world
    5·
    3 days ago

    Now we need a Kiwi egg and a diagram of each animal next to each other. Absolute legends of a flightless bird.

  • barneypiccolo@lemm.eeEnglish
    13·
    4 days ago

    Someone gave me an emu egg years ago, and I proudly displayed it for a long time. Then I got cats, and realized quickly that I should put it away.

  • duhbasser@lemm.eeEnglish
    11·
    4 days ago

    How do you even get your hands on a cassowary egg and not die a horrible death. Emu’s are chill as long as you’re a guy