Tardigrade (Water Bear)

[MrJastin]

What power microscope?

[LionHeart9619]

how big are they?

[Shows42nite]

Ugh, I don't find the world's strongest animal cute.They survive -328 degrees F?And can live in temperatures rising up to 303F. And they survive 1000x more radiation than we could.Like cockroaches.You can't poisin them.And they can survive 120 years without water.And the best power they have, living in the vacuum of space.If humans could harness that power,we'd be on mars by now.Tiny but tough feller there.

[Nexuxs]

They can survive 10 years whitout water, not 120 years, also they can stay on vacuum for 10 minutes, and cannot live there, humans cant do that because o the sise, that inclues alot of stuff, also sry for bad english

[Shows42nite]

Oh yeah, 10 years.And i didn't know they can only survive in space for only 10 minutes?But still, that's longer than how long you can hold your breathe underwater.

[habibi1213]

@Nexuxs Wrong - a few of the organisms kept in dry conditions within a museum were revived after spending 120 years without water. They were also taken on a low earth orbit and exposed to the vacuum conditions of space, and were able to survive for ten days. Although they usually live for ten years without water.

[habibi1213]

@Shows42nite You can poison cockroaches, and they can only exist in vacuums for a very short period of time. And it is not like they are walking round in space, they are in a cryptobiotic state.

[Shows42nite]

Amazing, I understand life now. Vacuums are almighty.

[habibi1213]

@Shows42nite Haha, glad to be of help =D.

[habibi1213]

@Shows42nite Also, I was referring to the water bears living in a vacuum for a short time (around 10 days), and as I said, they are not really living, just in suspended animation (didn't come across clear out of context).

[Shows42nite]

LOLOLOL, I knew that. Suspended animation dominates. Scientists that some day, they can make humans hibernate to Mars

[Pythybaby]

is it really sad i find them to be incredibly cute?

[ramzahnY]

I don't find that sad at all. I share this emotion concerning them.

What I am curious about is the fact that we actually find them to be cute. We don't find just any small animal cute. Amoeba are not "cute" for instance, or small spiders. Why here then?

I think that there is more to this emotion than we are aware of.

[craze231]

yeah its interesting

[isyou]

@ramzahnY Idk about others, but for me it's the fact that this small of an organism is classified as an animal

[Mujave]

Hello future Mars man!

[mhraue]

Extremely Sweet. This is right out of my spore games, especially the little moving bits running away! EXCELLENT!!!

[merrimoles]

Very interesting appearance. What type of illumination are you using?

[nerdagedon2012]

Interesting. I wonder how much high energy radiation (X-ray and up) the water bear can survive. Hell, even visible blue light has enough energy to knock electrons off of atoms..

[Jonte500241]

they can also survive 151C (303F) and -200 in a few days and in -272 in a few minutes.

[dfrybarger]

I found this on moss in a deserted planter outside my dining room window. I keep all of my microorganisms in mini-aquariums consisting of a small plaster washer 2 mm high glued to a slide with silcone aquarium glue with a cover slip on top. I've been observing this one tardigrade for over a month in this way. I keep the water level up by adding stale tap water when necessary.

[OptionallySavage]

What is their natural lifespan?

[dfrybarger]

It seems nobody knows for sure. I got ranges of 60 to over 100 years by googling "tardigrade lifespan".

[7FluxProductions]

actually that is in their dry state (which is like being frozen in time) when they are moist and moving i doubt they will live past a month or less...

[badluck13b]

lol its hard to tell if they r dead or just hibernating...... since they can hibernate for decades, makes it hard to determine if they r dead at all.....

[cyprexa]

Where did you get your plastic washers? I've been able to find some moss tardigrades and want to construct some mini-aquariums as well. It's a waste to kill them just to mount and preserve them on slides. I'd rather observe them alive..

[dfrybarger]

Hi,

I found the washers at a local hardware store in the section with toilet fixtures and supplies. They are about 2mm thick with an inside diameter of about 13mm and an outside diameter of about 20mm. I use a syringe I got with an inkjet refill kit to replenish the water supply at least once daily. (I use water that has had the chloramine removed - I use to just use stale tap water and that seemed to work fine.) Good luck in your search for water bears and have fun!

[Shows42nite]

They can't die.They're the strongest survivers on Earth.You'd be the one they look after, too bad, they're small.But it'd be sccary if they were huge, so, this is they're form.

[Daniel39363]

Looks awesome. Where all can you find them? Did you know that they can survive 10 years without water? Very fascinating creatures, as all are.

[ferbuji]

In fact they can survive 120 years without water, and also in space

[OntZ]

then how much can they survive in "thriving" conditions?

[superdarkpie]

who knows, truly they are great creatures, let us bow down to them as our new kings, and they shall lead us to glory and prosperity :D

[OntZ]

lol

[HurtingYourFeelings]

I'll never take orders from a freakin molecule, but they definitely will continue to exist after all the humans are extinct.

They're some of the most basic forms of life on this planet, and it's only fitting that the smallest are the toughest to kill.