digestion

[Darryl <dinoguy@interlog.com>]

To start off with, no I am not trying to be funny.  You will see why I say
this up front in a minute.

While watching a rerun of a Paleoworld episode, a question came to mind
(actually, it did the first time I saw it as well).  When a sauropod eats as
much vegetation as it does and processes it, there will be bi-products of
the digestion. I know that this is true for all herbivorous mammals.
Methane gas is even said to be a problem that is contributing to global
warming.  Sauropods (and other herbivores) must have produced copious
amounts of methane as a natural part of their digestion process.  I was
under the impression that birds (at least, I have never heard about crocs)
were incapable of releasing excess digestive gas (the old "feed the seagulls
baking powder" trick).  Am I incorrect about this?  The gas must have
existed, so what happened to it?

Replies of list would be welcomed, as I'm not sure that this is the best
forum for such an undignified discussion.  No "fart jokes" please.  If I
wanted to here those, I would hang out with the grade two's.

Darryl

----------------------------------------------------------
"the truth is, I don't really care how the dinosaurs died.
I'm interested in how they lived."  (Dr. John R. Horner,
from the Complete T.rex, 1993)
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The two most common elements in the universe are
hydrogen and stupidity.
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dinoguy@interlog.com
http://www.interlog.com/~dinoguy