The Mary River Turtle doesnt just have a cool moss cut to give it camouflage, it also breathes through its bum. The turtle, featured here a few days ago for its punk headwear, is one of several related species in Queensland rivers that have two sacs in their backsides. They draw water in through their cloaca (reptiles and birds combined opening for the genital, intestinal and urinary tract) and grab oxygen dissolved in the water. They have a rich density of blood vessels around the sacs to maximize oxygen uptake. In order to do this the turtles swim around with their backsides wide open, pumping water in and out up to 60 times a minute. All species eventually need to come to the surface to breath in the normal fashion, but can extend their time in the depths of the river with arse-oxygen. A study by Inga de Vries at the University of Queensland found some species get just 4% of their oxygen this way, while others can take 70%, enabling very long stays out of reach of predators. Other unusual features include a tail that can be 70% of the length of the shell and the protrusions known as barbels on the bottom of the turtles jaw it uses to search for food in the soft sand of the riverbed. Like other bum-breathers, the Mary River turtle is endangered. Fears that oxygen depletion in still water would drive it to extinction were one of the reasons the Australian government prevented the building of a large dam on the Mary River in 2009. Photo via: Chris Van Wyk
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 04:15:30 +0000
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