Little did Dani Rabaiotti, a PhD zoology student at the Zoological Society of London, know that a simple question by brother would propel her into the literary world. She didn’t know the answer to, “Do snakes fart,” so she turned to Twitter. And, as quickly as a gaseous dog can clear a dining room, she had the answer and then some. Virginia Tech ecologist Nick Caruso saw the tweet and created the hashtag, #DoesItFart. It became a forum for discussion about animals and their gas passing. The book, “Does it Fart? A Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence” followed and was released last week.
Source: Vox, April 3, 2018.
One species of breaded lacewing (they kind of look like a cross between a moth and dragonfly), when in the larval stage, have farts that contain a chemical that stuns termites. The lacewing eats the stunned, farted-upon termite. Yum.
INSIGHTS: With its fun illustrations, this book makes a great addition to waiting rooms in practices of all kinds, especially those serving small animals and exotics. And, like many other areas of animal studies, co-author Caruso says, “There’s still a lot we don’t know, whether it be about farts or other aspects of biology.”