Well done to Ottalie, our resident ‘eggspert’.

As she says, some people have proposed that eggs are shaped as they are to prevent them rolling off/out of the nest. There is evidence that seabird eggs are less spherical (rounded) so they can roll in a tighter arc and are less likely to roll out of the nest. Other reasons given have been that it allows eggs to fit more snugly together in the nest, with smaller air spaces between them, This will cut down on heat loss.

Lastly, the shape of an egg does give a great degree of mechanical strength. Try applying equal pressure to all sides of an egg at the same time. It is hard to break the egg. I’ve seen a kid actually stand on the top/pointed end of an ostrich egg and it didn’t break (see picture above)

However, recent research in Belgium (Brussels Institute of Oology) has shown selective pressure on egg shape in battery chickens to evolve to fit standard Ikea egg cups. Allegedly……….