“Does It Fart? The Definitive Field Guide To Animal Flatulence” by Nick Caruso, Dani Rabaiotti, illustrated by Ethan Kocak

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Rating: 4/5 Stars

An entertaining book about a topic that will either be greeted with disgust or with laughter when discussed at the dinner table: does animal X fart?

The authors use the general meaning of fart rather than its stricter scientific meaning, so some animals that pass gas don’t actually fart (scientifically), but even then the details are fascinating.

Yes, most of the animals featured in the collection do fart and the reasons they fart are many and varied: at one end (like for fish), farting to get rid of gas can be a matter of life and death. For others (like primates), farting could be a social signal! In between, the authors not only look at whether animals fart, but also how and why they fart and why some animals produce smellier farts than others.

You will also get an interesting education into the various way animals digest food (especially herbivores) that lead them to produce the gases that make up a fart in different proportions (from smelly to very smelly). Some anecdotal information (provided via pet owners) on how to reduce farts from some pets is also provided.

All in all, an entertaining read from beginning to end. Each animal is covered in one or two pages, with entertaining drawings of some farting animals.

Book read from 2018/08/16 to 2018/08/20