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Specieswatch: Wild deer release millions of tonnes of methane a year

Scientists find ruminants emit more of greenhouse gas individually than cows, although total contribution tiny compared with domesticated livestock When cows belch and fart they release methane, which is warming the planet, but how does this compare with the digestive gases emitted by wild animals? A new study shows that deer add the greatest amount of methane to the atmosphere, but compared with domesticated livestock their total contribution is minuscule. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, which has been rising rapidly in recent years, but it is hard to pin down exactly where it is coming from. Like domesticated cows, wild ruminants such as deer, moose and llamas rely on bacteria to help them break down the fibrous plants they eat, releasing methane as they go. To understand how much methane wild ruminants release, Theresia Yazbeck, from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in

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Scientists find ruminants emit more of greenhouse gas individually than cows, although total contribution tiny compared with domesticated livestock When cows belch and fart they release methane, which is warming the planet, but how does this compare with the digestive gases emitted by wild animals? A new study shows that deer add the greatest amount of methane to the atmosphere, but compared with domesticated livestock their total contribution is minuscule. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, which has been rising rapidly in recent years, but it is hard to pin down exactly where it is coming from. Like domesticated cows, wild ruminants such as deer, moose and llamas rely on bacteria to help them break down the fibrous plants they eat, releasing methane as they go. To understand how much methane wild ruminants release, Theresia Yazbeck, from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in

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What happened

According to The Guardian’s linked report, Specieswatch: Wild deer release millions of tonnes of methane a year, Scientists find ruminants emit more of greenhouse gas individually than cows, although total contribution tiny compared with domesticated livestock When cows belch and fart they release methane, which is warming the planet, but how does this compare with the digestive gases emitted by wild animals? A new study shows that deer add the greatest amount of methane to the atmosphere, but compared with domesticated livestock their total contribution is minuscule. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, which has been rising rapidly in recent years, but it is hard to pin down exactly where it is coming from. Like domesticated cows, wild ruminants such as deer, moose and llamas rely on bacteria to help them break down the fibrous plants they eat, releasing methane as they go. To understand how much methane wild ruminants release, Theresia Yazbeck, from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in

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The development sits in VINI’s Science coverage for readers following research, health, climate, space, medicine, and scientific institutions. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked report is dated 2026-08-05T05:00:10+00:00.

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Primary source: Specieswatch: Wild deer release millions of tonnes of methane a year via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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