Maybe I’ve spent too much time around teenage boys, but an April 6, 2018 podcast segment of the NPR program Science Friday got my atte
ntion — an interview with Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti, authors of Does It Fart? The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence.
Yes, this is serious science. Specifically, it’s called “flatology” — the study of flatulence ( https://glosbe.com/en/en/flatology). You might be surprised to learn that not all animals fart; dogs do, millipedes do, dinosaurs did. Octopuses don’t, and we’re not really sure about spiders.
And since I’ve gone this far, does this include warthogs? A quick Google search was inconclusive. But I did find a list of “The Top Ten Farting Animals” ( http://kkcb.com/the-top-ten-farting-animals-including-us/ ). Pumbaa notwithstanding, warthogs aren’t on the list. But “Vegetarian Humans” are number eight, and “Non-Vegetarian Humans” come in ninth. The number one farting animal? Termites!
I told you this was serious science!
You can listen to the 25-minute segment for yourself at https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/the-internet-asks-does-it-fart-and-science-answers/.