| From: Chrissy | 21/01/2000
19:02:00 |
| Subject: Fish Farts and Greenhouse | post id:
28701 |
| Just to continue my usual line of
tasteful questioning, I was watching my dog sniffing his own bum after a
"brufff" and pondered whether all animals fart. Snakes, crocodiles,
fish? Steve(primus) swears by 13 farts a day. Cows are supposed to produce so much methane that contribute to the greenhouse effect. What about all those insects, rodents, birds. Could you estimate the earths animal biomass and calculate their exhortations? | |
| From: Rapunzel | 21/01/2000
20:53:00 |
| Subject: re: Fish Farts and Greenhouse | post id:
28719 |
To the best of my knowledge, all animals with a gut have at least some degree of flatulence. The phenomenon is mainly caused by the fermentative action of symbiotic gut microflora. Gases produced include methane and carbon dioxide. Termites apparently contribute in excess of 20% of the world's current methane emissions. Tapeworms don't fart, as they have no gut. They live in the guts of others and absorb nutrients straight across their body surfaces, without even having to secrete enzymes into their environment (their hosts do that for them). | |