As we humans warm ourselves with space heaters, coats and gloves, western painted turtles are at the bottom of our region\u2019s ice-covered ponds, streams and creeks. Sometimes they can be seen through clear ice, as if they\u2019re trapped. What\u2019s going on, however, is life in cold blood.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, these turtles are able to survive cold weather for up to five months without coming up for air. In a reptilian version of hibernation known as brumation, they spend winters breathing underwater through their butts.<\/p>\n
The colloquial term for this survival technique is \u201cbutt-breathing.\u201d Scientifically, it\u2019s called cloacal respiration.<\/p>\n
\u201cPainted turtles draw small amounts of oxygen from the water through specialized blood vessels located in their cloaca, which is their rear orifice,\u201d explained herpetologist Charles Peterson of Idaho State University. \u201cThis adaptation enables them to survive in oxygen-scarce environments under frozen water for long periods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four painted turtle subspecies live in North America, with the western variety being the most colorful and common. Named for their bright red, yellow and brown markings, they can reach the size of dinner plates, with females up to 10 inches long and the males closer to 7 inches.<\/p>\n
Commonly found in Washington state, \u201cmost occurrences are at the lower elevations of Eastern Washington, the Columbia Gorge and the Puget Trough,\u201d according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n
Not only do painted turtles butt-breathe during cold weather, but they run near empty, surviving on stored energy, an infrequent heartbeat, a drastically lowered metabolism and little movement, Peterson said. \u201cWhat\u2019s really special about these turtles is that they can do all this for months at a time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right. While many cold-blooded critters brumate, including a number of snake and frog species, \u201cwhat is exceptional in the painted turtle is the length of time it can continue in this state,\u201d writes turtle physiologist Donald C. Jackson in an article published in the Journal of Physiology.<\/p>\n
After spending consecutive months in dark, cold water, no wonder painted turtles are often seen sunning themselves on partially submerged logs and rocks in the spring. With the exception of an occasional bob of the head, they\u2019ll perch stock-still with their scaly columnar legs splayed. Aah, sunshine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re basking in the sun to elevate their body temperature and get their metabolism back up,\u201d said Peterson. The warm sunlight also strengthens and dries out their shells, he explained, preventing growth of bacteria, fungi and algae.<\/p>\n
Courtship and mating typically occur in shallow water from April through June. After copulation, the female crawls ashore to dig a small nest in the ground and lay eggs. If you see a painted turtle plodding across a trail or road, it\u2019s likely a female looking for a good place to dig a nest in soft soil.<\/p>\n
Eggs take about 80 days to hatch, usually in late summer, Peterson said. Baby hatchlings, the size of a quarter, are tiny versions of their parents, featuring a deep olive shell and yellow and orange markings. They remain in their nest until the following spring, when they instinctively start inching their way toward water. It\u2019s a perilous journey, however, due to human disturbances and predators such as racoons, skunks and birds of prey.<\/p>\n
For now, prospective parents await springtime\u2019s warmth at the bottom of some creek bed, unhurried. While the males are anywhere from 3-6 years old, the females are a bit more mature at 6-10 years old. Longer daylight hours and warming temperatures will alert them when it\u2019s time to emerge.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s only early February, so they\u2019ll have to wait. And wait.<\/p>\n
Which, as we know, the western painted turtle does very well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we humans warm ourselves with space heaters, coats and gloves, western painted turtles are at the bottom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-444028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}