Which comes first: the egg or the chicken? This question seems funny yet it makes you think, doesn’t it? And like other people, perhaps you may find it difficult to figure out which really first came into being. No matter what the answer to the question may be, what is clear, though, is that a chick is hatched from an egg and grows into a chicken, which then lays eggs at some later time in its life. The progression from egg to chick to chicken to egg shows the life cycle of a chicken.

Some animals look like their parents when they are born. Others do not look like their parents immediately after birth. During their life cycle, they appear in different forms before they finally look like their parents.

The complete progression of changes that an organism undergoes throughout its life is referred to as a life cycle. The development of an organism throughout its life cycle is affected by such environmental conditions as temperature, water, and light. The lack or excess of these conditions determine whether an organism completes its life cycle or expires.

Different organisms have different life cycles. These cycles may be simple or complex.