If you’ve ever pondered over which animals fart and which don’t, you are now in luck. The book “Does It Fart?: A Definitive Field Guide To Animal Flatulence” delves in to idea of animal farts, which was sparked by a simple tweet.
Co-author Dani Rabaiotti, a zoology student tweeted out a question her brother had asked her: “Do snakes fart?” In fact they do and her co-author Virginia Tech ecologist Nick Caruso saw the tweet and started the hashtag #DoesItFart, which then led to their book collab. The book discusses not only which animals fart, but why. So, which animals fart?
- Who farts? Orangutans, horses, elephants, rhinos, seals, zebras, and cows all pass gas at some point. Herring actually use their farts to communicate with each other and manatees use theirs to remain buoyant in the water.
- Who doesn't? Sloths rarely even poop-only every three weeks - and due to their slow digestion they don’t fart. Neither do parrots or octopuses.
- Who kind of farts? Whale farts have only been caught on camera a few times and salamanders rarely do it, too.
Perhaps the most important question: Did dinosaurs fart? It’s possible vegetarian dinosaurs had the gut bacteria for it. Rabaiotti says, “Those animals probably did fart and we’re pretty certain that they don’t fart anymore.”
Source: Vox