Maybe I’ve spent too much time around teenage boys, but an April 6, 2018 podcast segment of the NPR program Science Friday got my attention — an interview with Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti, authors of Does It Fart? The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence.

Yes, this is serious science.  Specifically, it’s called “flatology” — the study of flatulence ( https://glosbe.com/en/en/flatology).  You might be surprised to learn that not all animals fart; dogs do,  millipedes do, dinosaurs did.  Octopuses don’t, and we’re not really sure about spiders.

And since I’ve gone this far, does this include warthogs?  A quick Google search was inconclusive.  But I did find a list of “The Top Ten Farting Animals”  ( http://kkcb.com/the-top-ten-farting-animals-including-us/ ).  Pumbaa notwithstanding, warthogs aren’t on the list.  But “Vegetarian Humans” are number eight, and “Non-Vegetarian Humans” come in ninth.  The number one farting animal?  Termites!

I told you this was serious science!

You can listen to the 25-minute segment for yourself at https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/the-internet-asks-does-it-fart-and-science-answers/.