Current theories on the formation of life are generally split between the creationists and the evolutionists. Creationists believe that a higher being created life while evolutionists believe that life evolved from inorganic matter. Of the evolutionists the majority believe that the Bubble Theory correctly models life's most primitive origins.

The Bubble Theory was developed by Alexander Oparin and states that the primordial Earth was a mixture of chemicals in a soup form. In this soup there where bubbles of gasses which, when mixed with electricity, could produce the ingredients for life. Stanley Miller and Harold Urey showed this to be very possible when they produced amino acids from nothing more than the chemicals available in the primordial soup and electricity. What this experiment does not show is what these early forms of life were.

Fossil records show that bacteria are the oldest forms of life. These unicellular organisms were photosynthetic and so produced the oxygen that now comprises such a large part of our atmosphere. From these unicellular organisms the multicellular protists developed. It is in the protists that the chicken first comes into life. By the simple combination of unicellular organisms into symbiotic groups the multicellular organisms appeared, and the earliest traceable record of the chicken is evident.

Since the multicellular organisms developed from multiple unicellular organisms it is impossible to trace exactly which organisms went into the making of this historical phenomenon, the chicken. The choanoflagellates are a group of zoomastigotes in the protist kingdom that gave rise to all higher animal forms. Although the choanoflagellate line branches out many, many times it always maintains a straight line of evolution in the center. At the end of this line, the trunk of the evolutionary tree, is the chicken.

Skeptics question this saying that humans are at the top of the evolutionary tree. Our minds and bodies have a much greater ability to control our environment than the chickens. The Chicken Theory does not argue with this, as a matter of fact, it supports the superiority of the human race. What the Chicken Theory says is that the evolutionary tree is lopsided, with some of the branches reaching way out from the trunk, and higher too. It does not say that the chicken is the most evolved creature in the world, just that its line is the longest of any creature.

Support for this theory comes from many sources. Although the chicken was not the chicken we know of today, it has gone through about 1.5 billion years of evolution, it was always the direct ancestor of the chickens. Fossil records help prove this by showing that choanoflagellates are the sole protist to produce all of the animal kingdom. Fossil records also show that in the dinosaurs a branch formed composing all walking animals while one strain continued on in the same style and formed all the birds, including the chicken. Getting away from fossils there is more evidence. Comparative embryology shows that chicken embryos have the same characteristics as fish, reptiles, and mammals. Chickens also have a wing with five appendages; these five appendages are evident in the hands, feet, and wings of all other animals, including humans. In the embryo form humans even have a tail, as do the chickens and all other animals. Even more evidence can be found by comparing the DNA of living organisms. All organisms have DNA composed in the same manner as chickens. Every animal from the trout to the human has DNA composed of adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. These four amino acids are the four that compose the DNA of the chicken. By then comparing the sequences of the amino acids scientist have been able to show that all living organisms are at least slightly related to the chicken. Many have branched off long ago and then those lines have branched, but it is irrefutable that all animals are related to the chicken, supporting the theory that chickens are the real missing link.

The greatest example of the amazing evolutionary significance of the chicken came from the culinary school. For years the answer to "What does it taste like?" has been "Chicken". The fact that so many things taste like chicken caught the attention of some young scientists, and it quickly gave credibility to the Chicken Theory of Evolution. Animals from every phyla have been described as tasting like chicken: rattle snake, frogs legs, swordfish, iguana, penguin, human, and zebra. Don’t forget: Tuna is the chicken of the sea. Even soy has been described as tasting like chicken. The chickens evolutionary lineage is prominent in every bite of food.

The chicken may not be the most advanced of creatures. The chicken may not be the most intelligent of creatures. The chicken may not be the most desirable of creatures, but it has the longest evolutionary line. If it was not for the chicken we would not be here today.