Strange but true

[tommy]

The first seedless grapes were kind of an accident. Thousands of years ago in the Middle East, a random genetic mutation caused a group of grapes to spontaneously abort their own seeds before the seeds could develop hard casings. The result: seedless produce. To reproduce the fruit, a sly farmer simply cloned the vine (with no seeds, there?s nothing to plant)?meaning that all seedless grapes today are direct descendants of that one mutated grape vine.

[Loz]

A bit like bananas then. All bananas in shops come from clones of the one plant.

[Salsaboy]

You're never alone with a clone.

[Saila]

GM is everywhere - RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

[Annette Curtain]

Boneless Chickens haven't faired so well though !

Nette:-S

[Barry Road Barbers]

Seagulls can't fart.

[Huguenot]

Tragically BBB, that one is strange but not true. :(

They're different from mammals in the sense that the waste pipes for both the kidneys and the intestines use the same pop hole, but the intestines have the same basic function using gut flora that have a gaseous by-product.

When the gas pressure exceeds the elastic strength of the cloaca muscle, the result must inevitably be a fart.

[Barry Road Barbers]

Gosh... It's just that I've been told many a time (from people that grew up on the coast) about seagull popping. I dont want to say what it is cause i dont want people to try it cause its cruel

[steveo]

Is a fart the expulsion of gas or the BRADDAAPPP sound? If it's the latter then surely neither seagulls nor dogs can fart because they lack the requisite buttocks.

[Annette Curtain]

Seagulls sh*t at will (I think)

They use it to attack predators near their nests

They've attacked people in Weymouth ( do read the post comments after the article :)))

So if they can sh*t, surely they can 'emit gas' can't they

One word BBB:

Bicarbonate ?

Nette:-S

[Salsaboy]

It must be true, it's on the internet! POP!

[Loz]

Rats can't vomit.

[Saffron]

Snopes and others say seagulls do not explode from bicarbonate/calcium carbonate etc. I agree. I think anyone who was paying attention in anatomy and physiology would as well.

The theory that when gas pressure exceeds muscle strength, then the muscular closure will be opened by the presseure, must surely be true for the esophageal sphincter as well.

The fact that rats and many other animals inc horses don't vomit is not related to this. Vomitting is an active reflex; whereas, gaseous escape is an involuntary release. In addition although horses don't actively vomit, the accidental ingestion of too much of the wrong type of feed will cause distention of the horse's relatively small stomach (most digestion takes place in the large hindgut through fermentation), leading to stomach fluids being involuntarily exuded through the nostrils. This is a vetinary emergency requiring immediate supervision. I haven't seen this in rats, but I have seen profound bloat in mice, which also cannot vomit. In the case of bloat, a dysregulation of digestion has occured most likely in the hindgut due to illness. The gas pressure is trapped between the many internal valves of the digestive tract and cannot escape rapidly enough to relieve the bloat. In a larger animal you would be able to surgically release the gas. Sadly in mice you're best to euthanise them in this case.

[maxxi]

Kangaroos can't fart - scientists are trying to use this knowledge to stop sheep and cows from farting out so much methane - which is a shame when you think of it - all that jumping and no accompaniment.

[Saffron]

You mean don't fart, I think? They certainly would be able to expel gas, were it produced. They don't appear to produce methane like cows b/c their intestinal fauna is different. http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/109/Kangaroos-dont-fart.html

[steveo]

I'm finding this all very informative

[Saffron]

I'm hoping someone will adapt the kangaroo digestive model to farty husbands.

[maxxi]

Can't fart Don't fart - from Dario Fo's Aeolian Trilogy...

[Salsaboy]

There is no word in the English language (that I can think of) that rhymes with 'Orange'.

[Otta]

lozenge? Sort of.

[woodrot]

cat owners are 15% less intelligent than the UK average. And it shows.

[Brendan]

Can you make cringe rhyme with orange?

[KidKruger]

What about 'Oh minge' ?

[Salsaboy]

Nope. Say them together and none of them work properly.

[Loz]

Saffron Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm hoping someone will adapt the kangaroo digestive model to farty husbands.

Are you saying you never succumb to the odd trouser burp, Saffron?

She who smelt it...