In Frozen 2, snowman companion Olaf mystified audiences when he told Princess Anna that turtles breathe through their butts - but is it true? Like many of Olaf’s fun facts, this claim sounds far-fetched; it comes up at an emotional time in the movie, when Anna realizes the only way to free the Northuldra people who are trapped in an enchanted forest is to destroy the dam her grandfather built. When Olaf wants to comfort Anna, she tells him that she “could use a bright side,” prompting him to share this odd factoid in the hopes of cheering her up.
As impossible as it sounds, turtles can indeed breathe through their butts. According to Live Science, it’s an important part of how they hibernate. Unlike humans, a turtle’s body temperature changes to match that of its surrounding environment. Some turtles must survive in cold ponds during the winter, and when these ponds freeze over they don’t have the option to come up for air. Luckily, the cold temperature of the water greatly slows down a turtle’s metabolism, meaning it needs far less oxygen to survive. In these situations, turtles sustain themselves on stored up energy and get their oxygen from the pond water by moving it over a part of the body where they have more blood vessels: their butts. The process is known as cloacal respiration, and while it isn’t the same as breathing through a pair of lungs, it allows turtles to get the oxygen they need to survive.
Because Frozen 2 has so much to do with water and ice, it’s not far-fetched for Olaf to know this. It makes sense that his fun facts would pertain to topics that are relevant to the film, especially since he's made up of ice himself. The line is meant to provide some comic relief during a dark moment in the film’s plot, but it isn’t actually as random as it may seem. As Olaf grows up and becomes more reflective, he begins wanting to understand what he is made of and how it influences the people and creatures around him.
Early in the film, Olaf expresses some worry about the way things change, so it stands to reason he might spend some time in the Arendelle library learning about what happens when things do change. Though his permafrost keeps him from melting in the summer, he might want to understand what the changing seasons do to other creatures. In keeping with Frozen 2’s theme, the fact that turtles can breathe through their butts reminds audiences that everything and everyone must adapt to change. It’s a hopeful notion at a critical moment: no matter how silly or unlikely they may sound, there are always ways to get by.
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