Gecko makes surprise appearance in egg

DARWIN, Australia, May 18 (UPI) -- An investigation is planned to determine how a gecko got inside a chicken egg, Australian scientists say.

Dr. Peter Beaumont -- president of the Australian Medical Association in the Northern Territory -- said he was cracking chicken eggs for a meal when he found the dead lizard in an otherwise unblemished egg, The Daily Telegraph said Saturday.

"I was cracking the eggs into a pan when I noticed one of them was all cloudy. I looked at the shell and saw a tiny gecko," he said.

Beaumont said the animal's carcass was lodged between the egg's membrane and the shell's interior, indicating the gecko had not entered the egg after it was cracked.

He speculated the animal might have tried to feed on a chicken embryo by climbing into a live chicken, only to become trapped in a developing egg.