World of the Bizarre

Bonkers experiment proves that sloths actually do break wind

By T.K. Randall
July 17, 2025 ·  3 comments

Image: Three Toed Sloth
Credit: Sergiodelgado / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) If you ever wondered what scientists get up to in their spare time, here's one particularly bizarre bit of research that seems primed for inclusion in the next IgNobel Prize awards.

For reasons known only to themselves, zoologist Lucy Cooke and wildlife veterinarian Andres Saenz Brautigam took the time to capture the first ever known footage of a sloth breaking wind.

The clip proves once and for all that these animals really do fart.

"No room for scientific interpretation there - just good old-fashioned bum gas," said Cooke. "So yes, sloths do fart. And I may have just witnessed the first documented case."

It certainly stands to reason that this would be the case - sloths eat a lot of plant matter which is particularly well known for breaking down and producing gas during digestion.The reason it was thought that they didn't break wind is because scientists had thought that an unusual evolutionary quirk had enabled them to reabsorb the methane rather than expelling it.

"They're so gassy that they even use their stomach gas to float when in the water," Brautigam told Live Science.

"If you work with sloths you live with their gas, everywhere on X-rays, interfering with ultrasounds, it can actually be a huge concern."

"In this way, gas and the pressure associated with it can be a huge issue."

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Source: Mail Online | Comments (3)

Tags: Sloth