h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Allegedly, Calcium Carbide has a similar effect

AS DOES SMALL PIECES OF SODIUM. LARGE PIECES ALSO MAKE IMPRESSIVE DEPTH CHARGE EXPLOSIONS WHEN THROWN IN PONDS.

this is true;
my father and i used to go pot-holing and we used to use calcium carbide to fuel his torch.
through this i know that it is common yorkshire caver-knowledge that this works.
i think it is pretty much any bird it works on as well. it is somethink to do with the fact that they cannot belch so they cannot get rid of the gas.

Life's cruelly ironic for seagulls isnt it?, if they get bad gas after a nice meal (donner kebab or curry for example) and then take an alkaseltzer for it, they risk doing a Mr Creosote (one more mint) and blowing themselves to pieces. To have gas or not to have gas, THAT IS THE QUESTION.

Oy, vey

If anyone want's to come to South Devon where we have loads of Seagulls to experiment on.

On the subject check out
http://www.h2g2.com/A230086#pigeons

For the lyrics to one of my all time favorite songs "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"

Cheers

Chris

I fail to see the importance of the 'salt' water. Last time I checked, Alka-Seltzer™ created vast quantities of gas in just plain old water.

The educational uses of a biology degree ...
It could almost be a christmas card picture, twittery birds, perhaps a robin or two, shivering in the snow. Scatter raisins on their little feeding tray. The water/juices in their stomach make the raisins swell, apparently, thus exploding the poor harmless mites.
And we all know about salt and slugs.
Couldn't ever do it myself though.

Slugs- don't they do a sort of Gremlin-esque dissolvey thing?
One is warned never to give guinea pigs porridge oats followed by water. The results can be imagined, although guinea pigs are so daft and comical I could never experiment with this. Evolution's been unfair enough to them as it is.