Government scientists in India “are working hard to reduce carbon emissions by making cows less flatulent,” says the New York Times. The second-most populous country in the world is home to 280 million head of cattle and 200 million other ruminants, such as sheep, goats, yaks and buffaloes, together emitting 13 tons of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, daily. “So reducing animal flatulence might actually do some good — especially in India, where there is little chance of cutting back the use of fossil fuels anytime soon,” says the Times. At the Cow Research Institute in Mathura, scientists are trying to find livestock feed that creates less gas when digested by cattle.
In the blistering heat of southern India, a breeding export, E.M. Muhammed, has discovered that an indigenous strain of miniature cattle emits one-tenth as much methane as the standard-sized breeds while weighing one-quarter as much. The dwarf cattle withstand high temperatures far better than their larger cousins, too. “So he is working to isolate what he calls the ‘thermometer genes’ in the miniature cows’ DNA, so his team can develop a large population of cattle that are heat-tolerant and planet-friendly,” says the Times.