this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago (9 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 1 month ago (8 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.
[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

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.

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