this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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A emu egg (left) next to a cassowary egg (right). They are some of the largest bird eggs on the planet. (lemmy.world)
submitted 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 36 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

What's the limiting factor?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 hours ago (3 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.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

Appreciate the share, that's awesome info

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 minutes ago

Benedict!

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 hours 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.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours 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 1 points 7 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] whoisearth 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe it wasn't as difficult as we think?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago

Maybe nothing is 🤯

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Tell me about whale eggs? 😯

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Why is that?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 hours 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.