Zoologist captures the first EVER documented sloth fart on camera

Daily Mail​

17-07-2025

From a blue whale's titanic toots to the fart of the tiniest mouse, breaking wind is something that unites almost every animal in existence.
But for years, scientists believed that one animal was the exception to this rule.
According to popular belief, sloths are simply incapable of letting one rip.
Now, a zoologist has busted this myth once and for all as he captured the first documented sloth fart on camera.
In this hilarious video, a baby Hoffman's two-toed sloth unleashes a stream of gassy bubbles while taking a bath in a bucket of water.
The clip shared on Instagram by zoologist and author Lucy Cooke and wildlife veterinarian Andrés Sáenz Bräutigam proves definitively that these adorable animals are just as gassy as any other mammal.
In the post, Ms Cooke wrote: 'No room for scientific interpretation there – just good old-fashioned bum gas.
'So yes, sloths do fart. And I may have just witnessed the first documented case.'
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A post shared by Lucy Cooke (@luckycooke)
Just like cows, sloths' vegetarian diet means that they produce large quantities of gas as a byproduct of digestion.
Since the leaves they eat are so tough, sloths enlist the help of bacteria in their guts, which break down plant matter and produce methane as a byproduct.
Although this was an obvious side effect of a sloth's slow digestive system, scientists had thought they couldn't fart due to an odd evolutionary quirk.
It was believed that sloths absorbed the excess methane back into their blood before being breathed out via their mouths.
However, as this video clearly shows, this is absolutely not the case.
It is true that sloths are unable to burp or vomit, due to their extremely strong oesophagus, but excess gas can clearly escape in the other direction.
In fact, Mr Bräutigam, who works with sloths as a vet at the Toucan Rescue Ranch in Costa Rica, says that these unusual animals are exceptionally gassy.
Some studies suggest that sloths ferment leaves in their stomachs so thoroughly that they produce more methane than cows relative to their body weight.
Mr Bräutigam told LiveScience: 'They're so gassy that they even use their stomach gas to float when in the water.'
This leads to such excessive levels of flatulence that it actually makes sloths difficult to study.
Mr Bräutigam says: 'If you work with sloths you live with their gas, everywhere on X-rays, interfering with ultrasounds, it can actually be a huge concern.'
The problem becomes even more pronounced when sloths are in human care and get fed vegetables as part of their diet.
Vegetables are so much easier to digest than leaves that the bacteria in their stomachs produce gas at an alarming rate.
'In this way, gas and the pressure associated with it can be a huge issue,' says Mr Bräutigam.
Mr Bräutigam has to deal with gassy sloths so often that the vets at Toucan Rescue Ranch have even developed a method for helping them to 'release' the pressure.
'We learnt that placing a sloth in a warm wet bath for a short time helps stimulate them to do their business and let all that gas loose,' he says.
And, in case you were curious, Mr Bräutigam says that sloth farts are 'silent but deadly'.
Scientists believe that almost any animal with a digestive system will probably need to fart at some point in order to relieve the gases that build up.
Researchers aren't necessarily sure whether birds normally fart since food passes through their guts so quickly.
But they would be able to expel gas through their cloaca, a multi-purpose orifice used to remove all forms of waste, should they need to.
The only true exceptions would be animals like the Portuguese Man O'War, which doesn't have an internal digestive system.
Some creatures have even learned to harness their farts into a survival advantage.
Herring, for example, fart at such a high pitch that predators are unable to hear it.
This lets the herring communicate with their flatulence without any potential threats eavesdropping on their conversations.
What is flatulence?
Medical experts define flatulence as gas, either generated in the stomach or bowels or inhaled from the air, which is expelled through the anus.
The volume and frequency of flatulence can vary greatly between individuals.
According to the NHS, the average person farts somewhere between 5–15 times each day.
To minimise wind, they recommend eating and drinking slowly, exercising to improve digestion and consuming a balanced diet.