Birds: Flatulence is Impossible, Won't Happen in This Life...
In life, we cannot do without the three characters 'shit and farts'.
Today, let's take a look at this strange thing – farts.
Flatulence is a normal physiological phenomenon that occurs in humans and animals. However, not all animals will fart. For example, many people have never seen birds fart.
So,Do birds not fart? Maybe the sound is too small for us to hear, or we are not present when they fart, or we didn't notice it. What about farting in other animals?
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Animals that fart
Farts are generally considered to be gases discharged from the anus. In a broader sense, farts are gases discharged from the anus by most animals and humans, regardless of whether they have a smell or sound, as long as they are discharged from a point other than the mouth.
Flatulence is the result of digestion. When microorganisms break down food, they producemethaneand other gases. These gases move down the intestines with peristalsis and are finally discharged. Therefore, theoretically, any animal that eats and digests food will fart.
Some animals 'farting' is a very interesting behavior. They inhale air and then discharge it from the anus, using the sound of the discharge as a weapon to scare away enemies.
For example, Sonoran coral snakes will use farts to drive away their predators. The Sonoran coral snake has a cloaca-like hole on its body. When necessary, they inhale air and discharge it, using the sound produced during discharge as a weapon for self-defense.
Some animals use farts to create bubbles to communicate.That infamous sardine (the one in the sardine cans) communicates by releasing gas.
The sardines first swallow air into the water, store it in their gills, and when they need to communicate, they release it. Of course, sardines don't fart randomly. They release different patterns according to the meaning they want to express, and their companions can understand.
Cat and dog owners have definitely experienced cats and dogs farting, and cats farting are even more outrageous when people are around, although there is no sound, it is enough to make cat owners dizzy.
Herbivores also fart. Zebras on the grasslands are good at farting. Cows and sheep also fart frequently, but their belches are more terrible than farts. The belches of dairy cows cause greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming.
Among herbivores, there are exceptions, such as rabbits. When rabbits fart, it indicates that their intestines have problems. At this time, the owners need to pay attention.
However, some animals have an anus but don't fart, such as scientists have never seen birds fart.
Do birds not fart?
Birds have an anus, so theoretically, they can fart, but why haven't anyone seen birds fart?
As we said earlier, when food is digested, a lot of useless gases are produced under the action of microorganisms. Once these gases are produced, they need to be discharged, andBirds don't need to fart.
Why? We all know that birds have short intestines and their digestion speed is very fast. It's common for them to eat and poop at the same time. Therefore, scientists speculate that the food in the bird's stomach hasn't been digested and produced gas before being excreted, so there's no need to discharge gas.
Image from pexels
Besides birds, another animal that doesn't fart is a sloth. As we said before, sloths are animals that move very slowly, and they don't even bother to get off the tree to poop.
Sloths have a very slow digestion speed, which produces a lot of gas,However, this gas is reabsorbed by their intestines and enters the bloodstream, which is finally exhaled through respiration. (This operation... have become this level of laziness, isn't it very interesting?! )
There are many other animals in the world that we don't know whether they will fart, such as spiders and amphibians. This is a blank research area. If you are interested in animals that haven't been studied yet whether they can fart, you can try to research it yourself. I believe it's a very funny and interesting thing to research animal farts!
Source: Digital Beijing Science Center
