Most mammals exhale through their mouths and noses. Frogs can exhale through their skin. Is there anything else about turtles? The hard-shelled creatures get oxygen.
Turtles can breathe through their butt, according to a rumor. Is this correct?
Turtles don't breathe through their derrires Turtles don't have "butts" because they have a multi-purpose opening called a cloaca, which is used for sexual reproduction and egg laying. They do engage in a process called cloacal respiration which could be seen as "butt breathing."
During cloacal respiration, turtles pump water through their cloacal openings and into two sac-like organs known as bursae, which act sort of like aquatic lungs, according to Craig Franklin. Oxygen in the water diffuses across the walls of the bursae and into the turtle's bloodstream.
Turtles live a long time.
All turtles have the ability to breathe air with their lungs, and cloacal respiration is inefficient compared with normal aerobic respiration. Only a small number of freshwater species rely on this method to overcome challenges they face in environments where it is hard to breathe air.
River turtles have mastered cloacal respiration. The Mary River turtle and the white-throated snapping turtle are both native to Australia and can use cloacal respiration.
Some turtles are better at cloacal respiration than others. The Fitzroy River turtle from Australia can derive 100% of its energy from cloacal respiration. It allows them to remain underwater indefinitely.
The amount of time they can stay underwater depends on the species. They can stay underwater for several hours instead of diving for 15 minutes.
The ability to stay underwater for extended periods of time is important for turtles because going to the surface can be difficult. Franklin said that going to the surface to breathe is an issue for a turtle that lives in fast-flowing water. It's easier to avoid crocodiles if you stay close to the riverbed.
Birds and large fish can target baby turtles. Franklin said swimming through the water column to the surface was the most dangerous place for turtles to hatch. Juveniles are usually better at cloacal respiration than adults, which allows them to spend more time near the riverbed until they are big enough to venture more frequently to the surface. It is possible that additional river turtle species are capable of cloacal respiration as a juvenile but lose it in later life.
Aerobic respiration is more efficient than cloacal respiration because it requires less energy to pump water into the bursae. Franklin said that gases are light and flow freely in and out of our lungs. Imagine trying to breathe a liquid. Turtles have to pump more water to get the same amount of oxygen because water has less oxygen than air.
Animals breathe underwater.
Another cost is cloacal respiration. The cells are unable to function properly when oxygen diffuses across the skin of the bursae and into the bloodstream. The turtles have evolved pumps that suck the lost ion back into the cells. The net gain of energy from cloacal respiration is reduced by osmoregulation.
There are many freshwater turtles in North America that are capable of a limited form of cloacal respiration. The Blanding's turtle is trapped beneath layers of ice that cover ponds during the winter. Some turtles are under the ice for more than a hundred days without being able to breathe. The turtles can take up oxygen through bursae and gargling water in their throats, which is called buccal pumping.
The cloacal respiration displayed by turtles is less complex than what the river turtles can do. The turtles take up oxygen that diffuses across the skin in the bursae instead of pumping water into it. When oxygen diffuses through an animal's skin, it is called cutaneous respiration.
The turtles get away with this form of cloacal respiration because they have a reduced metabolism which means they don't need as much oxygen. While they are under the ice, these turtles don't move very much, keep their body temperature close to freezing, and can switch to anaerobic respiration when they are low in oxygen.
It was originally published on Live Science
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