So I was at a BBQ lunch today and one of my co-workers was talking about the time he had eaten ostrich meat. I thought I’d add an interesting dimension to the conversation when I mentioned that the ostrich egg is the largest single cell in existence. I’d learned this a long time ago; that bird eggs are single cells.
Everyone at the table stopped eating and looked at me. They all were very suspicious of my claim. A table of very smart people telling you that you’re wrong is pretty convincing. Did I imagine this little fact? Were they right in saying that an egg is made up of lots of little, microscopic, cells? No no no, I just knew that I was right.
Well a quick google search proved me right:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/mole00/mole00128.htm
One resource mentioned that:
The entire “yellow” of a chicken “egg” is actually a single cell, the oocyte. The clear part of the egg is protien the cells use as energy when dividing.