# Turtle Butts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597 "2008-12-04T00:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![timbicile59](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@timbicile59](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timbicile59)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/1 "2008-12-04T00:11:21Z")
I just got an e-mail stating some turtles can breathe through their ass. My first thought was, this can’t be true. I’m fairly old but very new to computers. I tried wiki and got nothing any help? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/2 "2008-12-04T00:14:27Z")
Interestingly, the second Google hit for “turtle butt” takes you to an answer [on this very site](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2325/is-it-true-turtles-breathe-through-their-butts). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/3 "2008-12-04T00:17:06Z")
Talk about bad breath. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/4 "2008-12-04T00:32:26Z")
It’s true. (Used to breed several different species of turtle.) They pull water in through their cloaca and take in oxygen through their intestinal walls. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/5 "2008-12-04T00:42:20Z")
What? ---
**Author:** ![timbicile59](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@timbicile59](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timbicile59)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/6 "2008-12-04T01:10:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Interestingly, the second Google hit for “turtle butt” takes you to an answer [on this very site](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2325/is-it-true-turtles-breathe-through-their-butts). I thought i had read evey Straight Dope . I would remember that. And ewww. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/7 "2008-12-04T03:25:18Z")
Ewww is right: > [@](#): > > _[Sea cucumbers] actually disembowel themselves when disturbed: they eject the digestive tract and respiratory tract from the anus. The innards crawl around by themselves for awhile outside the animal, and as they are sticky they can also entangle an attacker. The sea cucumber then blithely crawls off to regenerate its digestive tract._ Somehow, I managed to finish my Baja Fresh Burrito Mexicano while reading that. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/8 "2008-12-04T13:07:11Z")
IIRC the sea cucumber thing was (in part?) the inspiration for [Theodore Sturgeon’s _The Girl Had Guts_](http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sturgeon2/sturgeon21.html). CMC +fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turtle-butts/475597/9 "2008-12-04T13:53:32Z")
It would seem to me that there might be some difficulty in determining the difference between indigestion and the common cold.