Earth’s most resourceful creature can live in boiling water, solid ice, and the intense radiation of space. It can survive a decade in a desert, without a drop of water to drink, or in the deepest trenches of the sea. Meet the tardigrade. 1. Tardigrades change form to survive without water.
When faced with extreme conditions, tardigrades can dry out completely, replacing almost of the water in their bodies with a sugar called trehalose. As a result, they’re able to survive environments that would otherwise kill them. 2. Tardigrades’ minuscule size hides them from predators. For all their resilience, the tardigrade is one of nature’s smallest creatures. Barely the size of a poppy seed at less than 1.5 millimeters long, the tardigrade can exist hidden in sediments and seas, unnoticed by potential predators. 3. Tardigrades’ mouths contain sharp daggers. Though they may be little, they are fierce! The tardigrade’s mouth is a serious weapon, its dagger-like teeth used to spear algae and even other small animals. 4. Tardigrades traveled to space – and survived. To test the true resilience of tardigrades, Swedish researcher K. Ingemar Jonsson from Kristianstad University launched tardigrades into space on the FOTON-M3 spacecraft on low-Earth orbit in 2007. Exposed to open space conditions, most of the tardigrades survived exposure to vacuum and cosmic rays, with some even surviving deadly levels of UV radiation. 5. They’ve been around longer than nearly every other living organism. Tardigrades roamed the earth and seas far before humans did – and will most likely outlast us. Will the tardigrades be nature’s last organisms standing? Only time will tell.
25 Comments
sammi
5/20/2016 12:39:41 pm
hahahahahahaha first one!!!
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Becca
5/20/2016 01:03:29 pm
That's soo i've seen that but never known about it. it is so cool how it can survive for a decade in the desert without any water!
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Lizzie
5/20/2016 04:57:36 pm
Those pictures are disgusting!!! UGHELEW!
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someone
5/21/2016 08:31:26 am
HOW DARE YOU! TARDIGRADES ARE ADORABLE!!!
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unknown
5/21/2016 02:12:06 pm
ya no i agree with lizzie,,,,,,,,,,nastiness
someone
5/21/2016 02:52:22 pm
to unknown: =(
unknown
5/22/2016 05:14:41 pm
to someone;
someone
5/22/2016 05:21:20 pm
to unknown: I actually think they are really cute, so I guess we will just have different opinions on this forever.
unknown
5/23/2016 07:34:25 am
to someone.....ya i agree
someone
5/23/2016 04:56:29 pm
to unknown: of course not.
bob
5/21/2016 05:18:37 pm
COWS ARE PRETTY SKINNY FOR BIG ORGANISMS
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Lexx
5/21/2016 08:33:11 am
I think tardigrades are really cute. It's amazing how much they can survive.
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Olivia Barlow
5/21/2016 05:50:24 pm
Ewww I did not want to know that!
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Lexx
5/22/2016 12:16:06 pm
Yes they are.
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Hailey
5/22/2016 02:40:21 pm
Those r the weirdest things ever!!!! They r cute but weird and WAY fat...... NO OFFENSE!!! Just saying!
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someone
5/22/2016 05:23:58 pm
Yay! another person thinks they are cute! They do look kinda like fat alien animals, but in a cute way.
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Olivia Sharp
5/22/2016 08:39:51 pm
They look so weird!!
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smalls/ little dude not aaron
5/22/2016 09:56:15 pm
thats cool and small like me
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Meigen
5/22/2016 10:19:31 pm
Those are so weird
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Meirah
5/22/2016 10:29:53 pm
Those are awesomely super gross😝💩
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |