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It has a closed double circulatory system with a 3-cavity heart that is composed of 2 atria and 1 ventricle. The sinus venous instead of being a chamber as it is in most reptiles in testudinaes it is a patch of cells that do a similar function to a pacemaker. Low oxygen concentration blood enters the ventricle from the right atrium and is pumped to the lungs from where it returns to the heart, that is the pulmonary circulation. After it returns to the heart it is pumped again to the rest of the organs in the called systemic circulation.
Due to their rigid bony shells turtles can not expand their chest to inhale, they do it by the contraction of their limb flank muscles in order to make their cavity larger, the exhalation process is made by the contraction of muscles that will lead the viscera upward that results on the compression of the lungs.
They have short asymmetrical kidneys that are located in the caudodorsal region; in females they are in contact with the oviduct and in males in contact wit the testicular area.
