As with any fun that goes viral, another doctoral candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama, Nicholas Caruso, spotted the exchange and emailed Live Science, "This should be a hashtag". And, #DoesItFart, was born. Hahaha! The new hashtag was said to have spread in a "silent but deadly fashion".
Biologists near and far had an "enthusiastic reception" to the idea and so, Caruso started a spreadsheet to gather data from scientists and the rest of us common folk, alike. Some of it is hilarious. Someone said that "the farts of unicorns resemble 'glitter and rainbows soft serve'". (Click on the blue print to access the spreadsheet.)
Another doctoral candidate, Chris Pellacchia, from the University of Southern Mississippi "included a video clip of a rhinoceros iguana partly submerged in water" to demonstrate its "power puffs".
Yes, frogs fart, rats fart, and millipedes fart. But, it's not all fun and games.
We know that animal farts contribute to the acidification of the oceans. Take the case of the lowly herring. "Herring communicate through chemical cues in their farts, and recent changes in ocean chemistry due to increased absorption of carbon dioxide may be disrupting the herrings' communication signals." When the ocean becomes too acidic, it could change the chemical make up of the herrings' farts which may, in turn, change their social swimming behavior.
As for my part of the world, you may have heard that cow farts are now being taxed in California.
I'm wondering if this effort should be considered a "prequel" to Everyone Poops. Perhaps a companion book should be The Gas We Pass!
I realize that I'm deteriorating into being an 8-year old boy here, but they're the experts at having a "blast"!
TTFN, Claudia
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