Scientists Interested In Animal Farts: What About You

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Dani Rabaiotti, a UCL researcher, was asked an unusual question by a relative one day, "Do snakes fart?" Dani knew that the wild dogs of Africa fart while the seals residing on the Atlantic island of South Georgia pass gas too. She was not sure about the snakes, though. So, she tweeted the question to David Steen, a snake expert from the Auburn University. David confirmed that snakes do fart. That was how the unusual fun science project of compiling a 'Does It Fart?' spreadsheet started. Today, this sheet mentions fart details about more than 70 animals.

The Daily Mail reported that the animal fart database shows that tapirs fart loudly (though their burps are worse) while orangutans do it all the time and without any shame. Dogs take the most blame for human farts. Bats fart and rats too. Other animals who fart include hedgehogs, bearded dragons, zebra and even millipedes. The project also warns that giraffes break wind at the 'face height' of an average man. So, you may need to be careful about where to stand when you are near a giraffe.

Washington Post claims that birds do not break wind but theoretically they can pass the gas. Marine invertebrates like crabs, oysters and mussels do not fart, though. It sees that bigger the animals are, louder they fart.

This fun science project is expected to be very popularly among young children. Dani shared that while the project seems silly, it is a great topic to get people to think and discuss animals. "Some teachers have even said they might use it as a resource in classes," she shared.

The study of farts may not just be about science humor. Cattle gas is known to release methane in the atmosphere which is one of the factors responsible for climate change. Scientists think that fauna flatulence needs to be studied in detail to understand how it impacts us all.