Birds are vertebrates which use their wide wingspan, muscles, and feathers to fly.Birds aren’t mammals, they lay eggs in their nests which they build usually on branches of trees or in other safe locations as well. The lightweight body of a bird helps it to fly in the air, and the skeleton of a bird is pretty light.Over the years, scientists, researchers, ornithologists, and bird watchers have amassed great amounts of knowledge about birds but their farting isn’t on this list. People are often shocked to know about animals that can and cannot fart as we humans think that farting is a very basic normal thing for all creatures, but in reality, it is not so. In the recent past, Dani Rabaiotti, a zoology graduate from the UK, Nick Caruso, a scientist at Virginia Tech along with Ethan Kocak, an illustrator decided to make a book about animals that could or could not fart. Caruso, Rabaiotti, and Ethan Kocak have never met each other but go on with their work via e-mails, Google spreadsheets, and Skype calls. It all began with a Twitter hashtag ‘#DoesItFart’. It was started by Caruso and soon many fart experts on Twitter joined in to make a long thread and eventually a Google spreadsheet too of the same. It contained farting information of various different kinds of animals.If you enjoyed this article, why not also read about booby bird facts and do tilapias have bones here on Kidadl?Why do birds fart?Before we delve into the why, let us take a closer at do birds pass gas? The evidence that we currently have does not portray a very clear picture. Despite all technological advancements and employment of creative minds, there is no concrete evidence about birds passing gas. It is strange how no one has noticed this until date even though there is no solid proof that rules out any possibility of birds passing gas.A ruffle of the feathers of the bird, a thermal scanner, or x ray are ways which would possibly give us some certainty about birds farting but upsettingly there has been no evidence. Some expert veterinarians have stated in the past that an animal such as a bird is well capable of passing gas, but a bird does not have the proper diet and the bacteria which leads to the fart smell and sound like mammals. There are certain species which have been clearly seen to pass gas along with the smell and sound. Fish are animals that we know fart, especially the bolson pupfish, and things can get so out of hand with this species at times that if they do not fart, it can lead to their death. When this fish does not fart, it becomes bloated and becomes very easy pickings for its predators. In the case of birds, certain researchers have noted that a bird’s inability to fart is due to its body features. Although a research study conducted on blue jays back in 1965 showed them passing some gas into the air but it wasn’t clear whether it was a fart containing methane or if it was just water vapor after the bird pooped.Why can’t birds fart?To this day, there have been no incidents which has proven whether or not birds can fart. On the other hand, there are a couple of theories or facts about a bird’s anatomy and its body working which shows that birds do not have the requisites such as that of a bacteria which is needed for them to fart. This bacteria can be found in humans and other animals which are known to fart.Interestingly, birds do have a well built body structure which theoretically allows them to pass gas, meaning birds do have the physical ability to pass gas, but they do not need to. On top of that, they cannot produce a fart owing to the lack of the required bacteria. There is a gas-forming bacteria which can be found in humans which interferes with the digestion process and leads to formation of gas. In the case of birds, they do not have the bacteria in their gut, and hence, nothing interferes with the digestive process of the animal. There is no question of gas formation. Some researchers say that birds fart due to the consumption of air. It is air mixed with food consumed that leads to gas formation and it is the composition or shape of the gas which leads to fart sounds. The obvious place for any animal, including birds, to fart from would be from the butt but some researchers say that it is possible that birds burp from their mouths, emitting the gas within them. Again, there haven’t been any sightings or specific studies of birds burping.Do birds fart when they poop?The intestines of birds are way smaller than those of any other land mammal including a human being. This leads to birds pooping every few minutes or in the span of an hour at most. The small intestines lead to quicker digestive process and less time for the food sitting idly in the digestive process.Perhaps every other human being has watched a bird poop but arguably none have seen or heard a bird fart. Previous research and common logic dictate that birds do not fart when they poop. Even though birds have the required anatomical structure which can support farts, they do not have the bacteria which humans have that leads to gas production. Birds might not fart while they poop, but do you know many birds urinate when they poop! After a bird consumes its food, it would ideally poop after about 10-15 minutes and at the same time urinate too. At this time, the urinary and digestive tract are used simultaneously. Now in case you have a pet parrot at home and hear farting sounds, don’t think that your parrot is passing gas in the air. The sound may seem like a bird producing methane from its butt, but it is not what it looks like. It has been noted at multiple occasions that parrots can expertly mimic sounds and fart sounds are one of them. Apart from farts, a parrot can produce the sounds of a phone ringing, a dog barking, or mimicking human speech.Do birds make noise when they fart?The sound that a human being produces during methane discharge from their butt is due to the composition and the shape of the gas. This phenomenon doesn’t occur in birds, or perhaps it hasn’t been noted as of yet. We believe that there are no noises produced when birds fart because if there was, researchers would have picked it up by now. Researchers are unsure about whether birds fart or not, and the question of sound produced is a different ball game. However, if they do produce sounds, the studies regarding bird farts would have been concluded by now.Some times you might hear your bird, especially parrots, producing fart noises. However, do not mistake it as the sound of your parrot farting. In reality, it is your parrot mimicking the sound of a fart. Talking about fart noises, whales, the largest mammals on earth fart too, but they fart when underneath the water surface and all you can see is bubbles coming out but you will surely know when a whale farts. Other than birds, if we take a look at animals such as spiders, snakes, and horses, and you will get to know that these animals do fart. Horses in fact produce more methane than any other mammal living on this planet but it cannot beat a sea lion when it comes to the smelliest farts. Several researchers and zoo keepers have vouched that sea lions produce the smelliest of farts of all animals. It was in fact the question about snake farts on Twitter which led to Caruso, Rabaiotti, and Ethan Kocak coming together to create the book about animal farts.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Curious question answered: do birds fart? Here’s what you need to know, then why not take a look at Pistol shrimp vs mantis shrimp smack down: here’s the winner, or Most dangerous animal in Africa: here’s what you need to know?
Birds are vertebrates which use their wide wingspan, muscles, and feathers to fly.
