A serious scientific question with an extremely immature answer.
Scientists had to define the word before they could answer that.
Because it turns out, the answer depends on what you mean by “fart.”
If a fart is gas produced inside a body as part of digestion, then no, trees do not fart. They do not have stomachs. They are not quietly regretting lunch.
But if a fart is simply gas released from a living organism into the environment, then the answer becomes… awkward.
Because trees release gas.
Here’s what’s actually happening.
In wet, waterlogged soils, microbes break down organic matter without oxygen. When they do this, they produce methane. That methane dissolves into the surrounding groundwater, invisible and unnoticed.
Trees drink that water.
Along with water and nutrients, methane gets absorbed through the roots and carried upward through the tree’s internal tissues. The tree does not make the gas. It simply transports it.
Eventually, the methane leaks out through bark, stems, or leaves.
No sound. No smell. No social embarrassment.
But it is still gas leaving a living thing.
Here’s a video that makes this uncomfortably clear. A researcher inserts a pipe into a living tree. He lights the end of it. A small flame appears.
The tree is not burning. The tree is not damaged. The gas coming out is methane.
It looks like a party trick. It isn’t.
In certain wetland forests, trees act like chimneys. They move methane produced underground by microbes into the atmosphere. Quietly. Continuously. With no interest in our discomfort about the wording.
I first came across this question via a kids science podcast. The kind that asks bold questions adults are too polite to say out loud. One of the scientists interviewed studies methane emissions in North Carolina. In kid terms, this makes her a certified fart expert.
What I love about this story is not the fart part, although that does help. It’s the reminder that stillness is not the same as silence, or inaction.
Animals move. They blink, run, vocalise, and demand attention. Plants are easier to dismiss. They stand still. They behave politely. They fade into the background.
And yet, they are trading gases, partnering with microbes, responding to stress, and quietly shaping the planet.
Once you start noticing things like this, the world stops feeling tidy and well behaved. It becomes stranger, funnier, and far more alive than we were taught.
Which means the next time someone says “trees just stand there,” you are fully justified in replying:
Actually…no they don’t. And sometimes, they fart. 😏
