A friend pointed out once that whereas we think of species as having an ancestor, like the first duck, there probably wasn't a first duck. It would be strange for there to be a group of birds, and for one to have a mutated child that was a duck, and for that single duck to.. I mean.. it needs a mate at least to do anything, a non-duck mate, and are it's children going to be incestuous?

update: another friend pointed out that there probably was a first duck, for any definition of duck.. or possibly multiple first ducks born simultaneously. What I meant to say is that there probably isn't an "eve duck" that is the great great great etc grandmother of all ducks.

So no first eve duck.. probably.

And ideas seem to evolve, and we think of tracing an idea to it's root, but that's probably impossible too.