THERMOREGULATION
Chelonians are heliotherms (Boyer & Boyer 1996), with a temperature range from 22 to 33° C. Many smaller species bask in the sun to heat up. They have difficulty cooling down, owing to their shell, so seek shade by burrowing under vegetation.
Large chelonians in arid deserts find it difficult to reach shade because of their large size, so they lose heat by evaporative cooling. They achieve this by hypersalivating or urinating on their legs and plastron (Bartholomew 1982).
(b) Pleurodires showing neck flexure from above
in mud at the bottom of a pond where water is so dense it does not freeze. These latter survive by using anaerobic metabolism and absorbing dissolved oxygen through their skin and pharyngeal mucosa (Gregory 1982).
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