Mammals can use their intestines to breathe. Rodents and pigs share with certain aquatic organisms the ability to use their intestines for respiration, finds a study publishing May 14th in the journal Med. The researchers demonstrated that the delivery of oxygen gas or oxygenated liquid through the rectum provided vital rescue to two mammalian models of respiratory failure. Source 4b.
A scientific team from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) has shown that some mammals, including pigs and some species of rodents, share an unusual ability: they are able to use their intestines to breathe in certain emergency situations.