There’s a fact of life: every living creature farts. Right? Well, not necessarily. There’s actually a book on the topic, titled “Does It Fart? A Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence.” Yep, someone really did write that book, and unbelievably, it has a five-star rating on Amazon. Roughly 84% of the people who have read the book gave it the top rating. I guess people are just fascinated with the topic of farting, but we’ll get into that in a minute. For now, which animals do and do not fart? Every page of this book is devoted to one animal and the one question: do they fart? Do orangutans fart? Yes. Do Sloths fart? No, believe it or not. How about salamanders? Maybe. Apparently that’s a mystery. And guess what: snakes fart. I kid you not. They really do.
According to the authors of the book, farts are primarily the result of digestion. When microbes break down the food we eat, they produce methane and carbon dioxide as byproducts, resulting in farts. Same thing for most of the animal kingdom. For example, horses fart a lot because their diet consists mostly of plant-based foods, and the fibers in the foods they eat get digested through fermentation. The same thing goes with elephants and rhinoceroses. Animals who eat a lot of red meat fart a lot, too, because meats contain foul-smelling compounds and sulfur. And in case you’re wondering, seal farts smell like fish. Nice!
Some species swallow air and let it go through their butts. I always suspected my brother did this. It still counts as a fart. When zebras are startled, they fart, and cows fart so much that they’re contributing to global warming. But which animals don’t fart? Octopuses don’t fart air, but they are able to expel a jet of water that helps them propel through the ocean. Parrots don’t fart, but they do sometimes mimic human farts. Some experts have captured whale farts on camera and apparently it’s a majestic thing. Why don’t sloths fart? The experts say that it’s because they do eat lots of plants but they avoid releasing gas because they digest food very slowly and they only poop about once every three weeks. Their would-be farts are reabsorbed through their intestines into their bloodstreams. Ew. I think I’d rather fart.
YouTube
One thing is for certain: hippos definitely fart. In the video below, you can watch the most epic animal fart ever to be recorded. At first, everyone is talking about how cute the hippo is, then he become not so cute. Word of advice: don’t be around a hippo when they’re lifting their legs. This is hilarious.
