Can tortoises also butt breathe like turtles?

[Testudines123]

A few years ago we were studying reptiles in zoology class and the professor told us that turtles can breathe through their butt known as enteral respiration (cloacal respiration). This usually happens when the turtle is under water hibernating. My question is, can tortoises also use this methode of butt breathing when they go into a hibernated state in their burrows underground?

 

[Yvonne G]

No

 

[TammyJ]

If a tortoise is stuck underwater it will drown, and so will a turtle... right?

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes. What that article refers to is absorbing oxygen through the cloaca during hibernation (brumation), not actual breathing.