# Dinosaur farts warmed the earth **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 7, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164 "2012-05-07T14:21:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/1 "2012-05-07T14:21:07Z")
\*Giant dinosaurs could have warmed the planet with their flatulence, say researchers. British scientists have calculated the methane output of sauropods, including the species known as Brontosaurus. By scaling up the digestive wind of cows, they estimate that the population of dinosaurs - as a whole - produced 520 million tonnes of gas annually. They suggest the gas could have been a key factor in the warm climate 150 million years ago\* That is a lot of gas.šŸ˜ƒ [BBC link.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17953792) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/2 "2012-05-07T14:33:22Z")
What about people farts? There are estimated to be over 7 billion of us, and I know a few personally who produce prodigious amounts of butt gas. Surely we must be having an effect on the environment? And, just wait a minute!! How do we know farts were even invented back then?? Do you seriously think T-rex would do a ā€œPull my fingerā€ to a velociraptor? Seriously?? ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/3 "2012-05-07T14:41:36Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > What about people farts? There are estimated to be over 7 billion of us, and I know a few personally who produce prodigious amounts of butt gas. Surely we must be having an effect on the environment? > > And, just wait a minute!! How do we know\*\* farts were even invented\*\* back then?? Do you seriously think T-rex would do a ā€œPull my fingerā€ to a velociraptor? Seriously?? Farts were discovered, me thinks. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/4 "2012-05-07T15:04:31Z")
It appears that reptiles can indeed drop some impressive ass. Hereā€™s [an iguana fart.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOwvmZSVrNU) Imagine a brontosaurus releasing a proportionately large outburst. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/5 "2012-05-07T15:39:32Z")
The sociopath in me is kinda fascinated by the idea that millions of people may die in low-lying areas like Bangladesh because of the Burrito Supreme I had last night. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/6 "2012-05-07T15:50:20Z")
Sounds like a lot of hot air. Also, ā€œbrontosaurusā€ is a misnomer. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/7 "2012-05-07T18:03:44Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Also, ā€œbrontosaurusā€ is a misnomer. Bully. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/8 "2012-05-07T18:48:41Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Sounds like a lot of hot air. > > Also, ā€œbrontosaurusā€ is a misnomer. And I suppose next youā€™ll tell me Plutoā€™s not a planet. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/9 "2012-05-07T18:58:19Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > And I suppose next youā€™ll tell me Plutoā€™s not a planet. Donā€™t be goofy, heā€™s a dog. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/10 "2012-05-07T19:58:28Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Also, ā€œbrontosaurusā€ is a misnomer. So, given the topic of this thread, which is the better name: ā€œdeceptive lizardā€ or ā€œthunder lizardā€? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/11 "2012-05-07T21:22:57Z")
Well, didnā€™t the Brontosaur turn out to be a teenaged Apatosaur? So that would most likely be ā€œLaughing Lizard.ā€ Or ā€œLizard with the burnt spot in his pants.ā€ Iā€™ve been giggling all day at this. Somebody please link to the youtube cartoons with the farting t-rex and the pig\*. Who knew they would turn out to be true? \*Razzle Frazzlinā€™ corporate firwall. . . ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/12 "2012-05-07T23:39:24Z")
Hoisted by their own petards? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/13 "2012-05-08T00:58:58Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Hoisted by their own petards? More like gassed by their own pooters. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/14 "2012-05-08T01:15:49Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Sounds like a lot of hot air. > > Also, ā€œbrontosaurusā€ is a misnomer. No it is not, it is an accepted synonym. Just not the preferred one. Also the article if you read it, says ā€œApatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurusā€ ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/15 "2012-05-08T05:32:24Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > No it is not, it is an accepted synonym. Just not the preferred one. Also the article if you read it, says ā€œApatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurusā€ Itā€™s a misnomer that through ignorant usage has become misguidedly but popularly accepted as a synonym by some. Itā€™s still a misnomer. Your quote was not the statement I quoted from the OP. My post was a response to the statement in the OP, not the linked article. Also, your quote is in fact erroneous. The fossil which was originally called ā€œbrontosaurusā€ was a screw-up; an immature fossil with the wrong head was labeled thus erroneously rather later than the original coining of ā€œapatosaurus.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/16 "2012-05-08T13:01:09Z")
The Washington Post _0_ free newsrag characterized this story as saying the dinosaurs contributed to their own extinction, but I see nothing in the BBC link above suggesting that. Are meteors attracted to methane? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/17 "2012-05-08T14:28:22Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Hoisted by their own petards? ..Standing Ovation.. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/18 "2012-05-08T18:33:29Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > And I suppose next youā€™ll tell me Plutoā€™s not a planet. > [@runner pat](#): > > Donā€™t be goofy, heā€™s a dog. šŸ˜ƒ Forget Plutoā€¦ it is a Mickey Mouse planet. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/19 "2012-05-08T23:30:16Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The Washington Post _0_ free newsrag characterized this story as saying the dinosaurs contributed to their own extinction, but I see nothing in the BBC link above suggesting that. Are meteors attracted to methane? Thereā€™s been a fair bit of study on whether they were Fā€™d through other means before the meteors hit. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaur-farts-warmed-the-earth/621164/20 "2012-05-09T00:33:57Z")
Scientists think now that at the end of the dinosaur era a region of the earth was covered with super volcanoes, that disrupted the whole ecosystem and it put the dinosaurs in danger. It seems that dinosaurs had survived problems like that before, but then there was the double whammy in the form of an asteroid crashing in the Yucatan, not even the T-rex could deal with that. > **[Massive volcanoes, meteorite impacts delivered one-two death punch to dinosaurs](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117141201.htm)** > > A cosmic one-two punch of colossal volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes likely caused the mass-extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period that is famous for killing the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, according to two reports that...