GorillaOffTopic, Everything But Gorilla Trades

The earth’s atmosphere is full of greenhouse gas emissions, which is not news. But did you know that it is believed that a potentially large percentage of it could be coming from those cute, chubby, mooing beefsteaks we call cows? Silly yes, but entirely true! It has been widely known for decades that animal waste has contributed methane to the greenhouse effect, but not a lot of attention has been paid to its potential effects. Until now, carbon dioxide emissions received most the credit for its large contribution to the earth’s greenhouse effect, but scientists in Argentina have decided to take a closer look at cows, and what they may be contributing.  Argentina is one of the world’s biggest beef producers, with some 55 million cows grazing on its famed Pampas Grasslands. And Methane, researchers say, is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and can be found in animal waste, landfills, coal mines and leaking natural gas pipes. Researchers say the slow digestive system of cows makes them a producer of methane so they found an effective way to measure just how much that could be. The researchers attach a red plastic tank to a cow’s back and connect it through a tube to the animal’s stomach, and scientists say they can trap bovine burps and analyze them. (Yes, the Gorilla did say “burps”).  “When we got the first results, we were surprised. Thirty percent of Argentina’s (total greenhouse) emissions could be generated by cows,” said Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology. It’s simply unbelievable that a cow, weighing around 1200 pounds, could emit that amount of methane-equal to almost 1000 liters- daily. Scientists are now working to develop new diets for cows that will make it easier for them to digest food. They are working on testing out alfalfa and clover and trying to move away from grains. “We have done a preliminary study and have found that by using tannins, you can reduce methane emissions by 25 percent,” said Silvia Valtorta of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations.  

Wow! You’d think that someone would have figured this out a bit sooner! Let’s just hope they don’t find any greenhouse gas emissions in Gorilla burps. Can you imagine them trying to put a tank on a Gorilla’s back? That one could be costly!