Egg-cellent!
Egg- cellent!
What do animals need to survive?
Baby turkeys, called poults, and baby chicks both grow in eggs before hatching. Does a poult or chick need the same things to survive inside an egg as it does after hatching? Let’s find out!
1. When inside the egg, a chick/poult is called an embryo.
Embryo’s need food, water, air, and the right temperature to grow and hatch. Look at the parts of an egg to understand how this works:
For this activity, you'll need:
- A container
- An egg
- Toothpicks
- Shell: An egg shell has over 7,000 pores that let air pass in and out of the egg.
- Membrane: Between the shell and the egg white. It keeps bacteria out of the egg.
- Air cell: This holds oxygen for the chick or poult to breathe.
- Albumen: Cushions the egg yolk and gives water and protein for the baby chick or poult.
- Yolk: Provides food for the baby chick or poult.
- Chalazae: Cords on the side of the yolk that keep it centered.
- Germinal disc: White spot on the yolk that holds genetic materials.
2. Now that you know the parts of an egg, try and identify them.
Crack an egg into a container and use a toothpick to identify the different parts.
After learning and identifying the different parts of an egg, we now know that an embryo and a chick both need the same things to survive: the right temperature, food, water, and air!
Grocery store eggs are unfertilized. The eggs will not have chicks growing inside them.
