What’s Inside A Turtle Shell?

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“Stop using oxygen for energy and use glucose instead” Okay dude

👍︎︎ 54 👤︎︎ u/sodiumdodecylsulfate 📅︎︎ Jul 10 2019 🗫︎ replies

Well I learned something new today and I really enjoyed it. Turtle power 🤣🤣🤣👍

👍︎︎ 16 👤︎︎ u/25Bam_vixx 📅︎︎ Jul 10 2019 🗫︎ replies

we had a tortoise for 25 yrs and I had no idea about this! I am not surprised that they can breathe thru their butts, tho. Our tortoise made crazy loud noises sometimes that sounds like a horn and the vet told us it was coming from its butt and was no big deal.

👍︎︎ 9 👤︎︎ u/ivyandroses 📅︎︎ Jul 10 2019 🗫︎ replies

That’s really awesome! I had no idea. You should try posting this over at r/unseennature. I think that audience would enjoy it. Thanks!

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/MadreDeMonos 📅︎︎ Jul 10 2019 🗫︎ replies

I mean a turtle had a stand, 「SILVER CHARIOT」so trust me they get even more special, unexpectedly.

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/Jamoola 📅︎︎ Jul 10 2019 🗫︎ replies

Freaking love turtles

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/Ddillard87 📅︎︎ Jul 10 2019 🗫︎ replies

The cloaca doesn’t actually “suck in air”, isn’t it used to absorb oxygen through diffusion when under water? That’s what I was always taught...

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/Hannah-95 📅︎︎ Jul 11 2019 🗫︎ replies

Wow! That was great. Very informative.

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/Neanderthal286 📅︎︎ Jul 10 2019 🗫︎ replies

I want a cloaca!!

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/kettlegoaties 📅︎︎ Jul 11 2019 🗫︎ replies
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[Narrator] A turtle's shell is as much a part of its body as our rib cage is of ours. In fact, it is their rib cage, and their spine, and their vertebrae, and their sternum. Basically, a turtle's skeleton is inside out. And just like you can't take a skeleton out of a person, right, you can't take a turtle out of its shell either. But if you could, you'd probably be surprised by what you'd discover. Maria Wojakowski: Here's the inside of a turtle. [Narrator] That's Maria Wojakowski, a biologist who's been studying turtle ecology for more than a decade. Wojakowski: Here's your shoulder girdle. Here's your hip girdle. [Narrator] Notice how those hips and shoulders are actually inside the turtle's rib cage? Turtles are one of the only land animals on the planet with this feature. They're also some of the only animals that can breathe with their butts. You see, inside a turtle shell is a very particular respiratory system. Wojakowski: You will see the lungs towards the top here. [Narrator] Now, most land animals breathe by expanding and contracting their ribs, which creates a natural pump that guides air in and out of their lungs. But turtles can't do this because their rigid shells don't expand. So instead they rely on sheets of muscles within their shell to pump in oxygen through their mouths. That is, most of the time. Then there are other times when turtles breathe out the other end, more specifically, through what scientists call the cloaca. It's the same opening that turtles use to urinate, defecate, and lay eggs. And in some cases, it can double as a set of gills, sucking in water and absorbing the oxygen within. Scientists think that turtles do this when they're spending long periods of time underwater, like when they're hibernating. And if you look really closely at the inside of a shell, you'd discover another feature that helps with hibernating underwater: a scaffold-like structure that can store and release chemicals. That structure actually helps turtles breathe without any oxygen at all. It works like this: Many turtles hibernate in frozen ponds that are starved of oxygen, and to survive, their metabolism switches over from aerobic to anaerobic. That means they stop using oxygen for energy and start using glucose instead via a process called anaerobic respiration. And the byproduct of that is lactic acid. Now, theoretically, this acid could build up in a turtle's body and kill it. That's where the shell's structure comes in. It can absorb the lactic acid as well as release a bicarbonate to neutralize that acid. It's essentially Tums, but for turtles. So as it turns out, having a shell is pretty handy for certain situations. In fact, scientists think that turtles originally got their shells for digging, likely more than 200 million years ago. Wojakowski: They dig, like, really, really complex burrowing structures underground. [Narrator] And of course, shells are incredibly useful for defense against predators, no matter how fierce they may be. Turtles are amazing.
Info
Channel: Science Insider
Views: 2,304,718
Rating: 4.9083881 out of 5
Keywords: Business Insider, Science Insider, animals, turtles, breathing, oxygen, underwater, water, shell, turtle shell, ribcage, biology, animal science, animal sciences
Id: V17T_5jRE2M
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 3min 38sec (218 seconds)
Published: Tue Jul 09 2019
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