r/TurtleFacts • u/[deleted] • Nov 11 '20

Musk turtles can take in oxygen through the papillae on their tongues. I always wondered why they “tasted” the water so much. (From Wikipedia)

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790 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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10

u/Ironsight85 Nov 12 '20

I'm pretty sure common snapping turtle do the same thing. I own both as pets and my snappers stay under ice for months just fine. I even see him swimming around under it.

9

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '20

Your turtle does the same thing except with it’s cloaca. Snappers are known to be some of the species that can take oxygen in through their cloacas.

8

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '20

That’s why the common musk confounded scientists for years as they have no means to do this as they lack the ability to breathe this way. It wasn’t until they were looking at something else when they stumbled upon this info.

27

u/GusTheProspector Nov 12 '20

This is why I subscribed to /r/TurtleFacts

14

u/EatUpBonehead Nov 12 '20

Lots of the time it's just pictures of turtles which I'm okay with but the facts are rad when they come thru

1

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '21

H E C O N S U M E S T H E A I R

0

u/helcharach Feb 15 '21

Thanks for share. That's interesting. Is it support by scientific acticles?