How Does a Turtle Breathe Underwater?

“A turtle? Where?!” I heard my son’s excitement from the other room. Joining him at the front door, our neighbors stood on our doorstep explaining they’d seen a snapping turtle in the neighborhood. We eagerly followed them to the nearby creek to see it for ourselves.

The snapping turtle was very large, much bigger than a dinner plate. I would have struggled to pick it up had I tried, and I was not about to. A snapping turtle can deliver a powerful bite faster than our eyes can see—up to 174 miles per hour!

I was hoping to watch the snapping turtle gobble up a minnow, but before it reached for its next snack, it disappeared before our eyes. A snapping turtle can burrow down into the soft, muddy bottom of a creek to wait in ambush for its next meal to swim by.

 

Watching a turtle burrow in the water can raise a question: how do they hold their breath for so long? Turtles don’t have gills like fish, but God designed them with special tissues near their tail that soak in oxygen from the water. In winter, they can rest for months beneath the water’s surface, taking in oxygen in this unique way.

 

Living things need oxygen, and God designed unique ways to get it. Fish use internal gills, axolotls use wavy external gills, trees collect oxygen through tiny holes on their leaves, a frog’s thin skin allows oxygen to pass right into their bodies, and turtles can absorb oxygen through tissues by their tails. How do we humans breathe? We use lungs to inhale and exhale.

 

When God made the first human, Adam, he breathed the breath of life into him (Genesis 2:7). God’s very breath was the beginning of humankind, and it still sustains us today. Isaiah 42:5 says, "God, the Lord, created the heavens

and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth."

 

As we discover the unique ways turtles and other creatures breathe, and with every breath we take, we can praise God who gives us life.

“The Spirit of God created me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life.” Job 33:4

Dear God, each breath I take is a gift from you. Help me to practice pausing and taking a deep breath remembering that you are the giver of life.

Fun Fact:

A male alligator snapping turtle in the southern United States can weigh around 200 pounds.