Do you know that a turtle can breathe out of their butts ? Yeah, its hard to believe. The turtles can breathe through their mouths & require a lot of breathing in the underwater. A turtle’s muscles are built to help it emerge from the gaps in its shell & thus breathing in and out in the normal fashion requires a lot of work for the turtle. Mainly the Australian Fitzroy river turtle, North American eastern painted turtle can breathe through their mouths which expanding as much energy.