Tardigrades are microscopic, aquatic animals found just about everywhere on Earth. Terrestrial species live in the interior dampness of moss, lichen, leaf litter and soil; other species are found in fresh or salt water. They are commonly known as water bears, a name derived from their resemblance to eight-legged pandas. Some call them moss piglets and they have also been compared to pygmy rhinoceroses and armadillos.
On seeing them, most people say tardigrades are the cutest invertebrate.
Their best-known feature is their brute, dogged ability to survive spectacularly extreme conditions. A few years ago, the Discovery network show Animal Planet aired a countdown story about the most rugged creatures on Earth. Tardigrades were crowned the “Most Extreme” survivor, topping penguins in the Antarctic cold, camels in the dry oven of the desert, tube worms in the abyss and even the legendarily persistent cockroach.
Tardigrades have been experimentally subjected to temperatures of 0.05 kelvins (–272.95 degrees Celsius or functional absolute zero) for 20 hours, then warmed, rehydrated and returned to active life. They have been stored at –200 degrees Celsius for 20 months and have survived. They have been exposed to 150 Celsius, far above the boiling point of water, and have been revived. They have been subjected to more than 40,000 kilopascals of pressure and excess concentrations of suffocating gasses (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide), and still they returned to active life. In the cryptobiotic state, the animals even survived the burning ultraviolet radiation of space.
It makes me want to buy a microscope
Most info from ~American Scientist~
On seeing them, most people say tardigrades are the cutest invertebrate.
Their best-known feature is their brute, dogged ability to survive spectacularly extreme conditions. A few years ago, the Discovery network show Animal Planet aired a countdown story about the most rugged creatures on Earth. Tardigrades were crowned the “Most Extreme” survivor, topping penguins in the Antarctic cold, camels in the dry oven of the desert, tube worms in the abyss and even the legendarily persistent cockroach.
Tardigrades have been experimentally subjected to temperatures of 0.05 kelvins (–272.95 degrees Celsius or functional absolute zero) for 20 hours, then warmed, rehydrated and returned to active life. They have been stored at –200 degrees Celsius for 20 months and have survived. They have been exposed to 150 Celsius, far above the boiling point of water, and have been revived. They have been subjected to more than 40,000 kilopascals of pressure and excess concentrations of suffocating gasses (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide), and still they returned to active life. In the cryptobiotic state, the animals even survived the burning ultraviolet radiation of space.
It makes me want to buy a microscope
Most info from ~American Scientist~
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