this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
624 points (99.1% liked)

Mildly Interesting

21272 readers
454 users here now

This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?

Just post some stuff and don't spam.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
marcar@lemmy.world
Jimbabwe@lemmy.ml
WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world
624
A emu egg (left) next to a cassowary egg (right). They are some of the largest bird eggs on the planet. (infosec.pub)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by ickplant@lemmy.world to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
70 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 months ago (2 children)

What's the limiting factor?

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 29 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If I had to guess it'd be the ability for oxygen to diffuse through the shell and reach the embryo?

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 42 points 2 months ago (5 children)

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.
[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

What's your sources? Begging your pardon, that looks like a perfectly standard GPT answer.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Didn't think I would find egg facts so interesting... Cool!

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

That’s eggcellent and I’m eggstatic that you enjoyed. Come back next Easter for more egg facts.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Benedict!

I don't think I'm doing this right.

[–] coaxil@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Appreciate the share, that's awesome info

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I never even considered that but it makes total sense. Thanks for the great post.

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

No problem. I get curious myself so figure it nice to share with people that don’t tell me they’re not interested in useless facts.

[–] maxwellfire@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months 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 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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.
[–] tamal3@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Any info on why both are GREEN? That's unexpected. Camouflage, maybe?

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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.

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Even with it being much warmer I believe it would still be difficult to keep at a uniform temperature.

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Maybe it wasn't as difficult as we think?

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Maybe nothing is 🤯