Nature, design: why are eggs smaller at one end?

Self-tutoring about natural design: the tutor mentions a find about eggs.

The asymmetrical design of eggs is intriguing and can be a challenge to depict. What is the advantage of being egg-shaped?

It turns out that, in the nesting context, their asymmetrical shape causes eggs to group together, leaning inwards towards each other. Moreover, on a gentle hill, an egg won’t roll ‘away’: its shape causes it to find a lowest point and remain there, for easy recollection.

BTW: I’m referring, of course, to chicken eggs. I’ve heard that not all eggs have the familiar shape we know as the “egg shape.” Perhaps I’ll follow up about some eggs that are shaped differently.

Interesting, eh?

Source:

Hoar, DeSmet, et al. Birds of Canada. Edmonton: Lone Pine Press, 2010.