Turtles can breathe in three different ways:
1. Through their lungs. Turtles are vertebrates and they have lungs, which is their primary means of breathing.
2. Through their mouths and throats, the air actually doesn't go into their lungs. Some species of aquatic turtles can absorb oxygen through their mouth/throat system. This helps tremendously underwater in cases of needing oxygen.
3. And what you've waited for, through their butts. Some aquatic turtles can breathe through their butts. Turtles can poop, pee, mate, and lay eggs through one hole, technically called a cloaca (clo-ay-ka). In some species of aquatic turtle there are structures called cloacal bursae, which are essentially highly vascularized (filled with blood vessels) tissues which allow oxygen to be absorbed across them.
The Australian white-throated snapping turtle are sometimes called "the bum-breathing turtle" because they can get nearly 70% of its oxygen through its cloacal bursae, their butt. However they're critically endangered, probably the hard sale of dating with bad breath.
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