# Do all animals fart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347 "2012-02-09T21:22:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/1 "2012-02-09T21:22:16Z")
I sumise that all mammals do, but what about reptiles? Insects? Others? My inquiring mind wants to know. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/2 "2012-02-09T22:19:30Z")
_An Idiot Abroad: Bucket List_ featured a farting king cobra just this past weekend. It greatly amused Karl Pilkington. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/3 "2012-02-09T22:19:43Z")
[Cecil on fish farts, 2000](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2364/do-fish-fart-plus) Most don’t, but herring do, apparently as a kind of ultrasonic signal. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/4 "2012-02-09T23:29:44Z")
I’m betting that sponges and coelenterates don’t, and I’d be surprised if echinoderms do (even if they did, you wouldn’t really be able to distinguish between farts and burps). ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/5 "2012-02-10T15:45:55Z")
I swear I saw my old 18 inch Snakehead fish fart. Bubbles came up from his ass-end area and he wasn’t near his airstone… ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/6 "2012-02-10T18:52:21Z")
Iguanas do :rolleyes: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nOwvmZSVrNU/hqdefault.jpg "Iguana Fart") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOwvmZSVrNU) though this one is more of a shart… ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/7 "2012-02-10T19:09:25Z")
I’d say that any animal with a complex digestive system (i.e. intestines) farts, since the gas is generated by bacteria in the intestines (some animals, like cows, also produce gas in their stomachs, but this is burping, not farting). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/8 "2012-02-10T19:10:39Z")
I can testify that Dobermans do little else. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/9 "2012-02-10T21:03:10Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I can testify that Dobermans do little else. True dat but I would add, “Most dogs.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-animals-fart/612347/10 "2012-02-10T23:23:27Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > I’d say that any animal with a complex digestive system (i.e. intestines) farts, since the gas is generated by bacteria in the intestines (some animals, like cows, also produce gas in their stomachs, but this is burping, not farting). You’d think so, but Kanagaroos’ digestive systems produce [very little methane](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7551125.stm) compared to cattle, due to different gut flora being present in their intestines. As a consequence, they either don’t fart at all, or fart very little. If we switched to eating Kangaroo instead of beef there would be a significant drop in global methane production, a potent greenhouse gas. To save the planet, we should eat more Kangaroo. Any digestive system that produces methane isn’t as efficient as it could be, as methane is good source of energy.