The Toughest Animals on Earth: Tardigrades- Animal of the Week (Week #5)
Hi, and welcome back! I had hinted in my previous post I was to be talking about the fearless tardigrades, so here it is! A post on water bears, thought to be the toughest animals on Earth.
Here are your 5 facts on these awesome animals!
1) Small and Mighty- These animals are usually smaller than one millimeter (0.04 inches) in length, ranging sizes 0.05-1.2 millimeters (0.002-0.05 inches) That's what makes them so interesting- their tiny bodies can handle the most extreme conditions for survival! Source
2) The Living Old- Oh they're old all right- 600,000,000 years old. These tardigrades have been on Earth for so long, and people think they will live longer than we ever will. Source
3) Space-y- Humans cannot survive taking off their helmet in the vast space of the ocean for just a few minutes, feeling the effects of space in just seconds. But these water bears can survive up to not ten seconds, not ten minutes, not ten hours, but ten days living in the pressure of the atmosphere. Now if only we could have ten day expeditions to other planets, we'd be set with tardigrades :) Source
4) Cryptobearosis- The question you've probably been waiting for: how do tardigrades survive the extreme temperatures that they are so famous for? Well, you've probably heard that many animals hibernate (bears torpor) through the winter. Similarly, water bears can undergo another kind of these weird sleeping conditions, symptoms that are the same as being near death, called cryptobiosis. They go into a tun, their version of cuddling up into a small ball, while their organs are protected by a coating called trehalose. Pretty neat, huh? Source
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5) Don't Worry, I Can Stay Thirsty For A Couple More Years- Similar to the previous fact, in their tuns they can survive without water for several years without completely dying. Their life processes will just be suspended for a while. That's it. Source
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Alien-like? Quite. But I hope you enjoyed understanding the life of these microscopic creatures, and I hope you found them as interesting as I did. Keep exploring, and stay tuned!
-TheBookishElephant
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Hi there! I'm TheBookishElephant- a writer, reader, and a HUGE fan of all things animal! This blog is an inspiration of the animals I have seen growing up, and animals I hope to see as I continue on in my life! Animal Awareness is one of the things that can get out the word and help create change. Want to support my mission? Go ahead and click the follow button! Followers really inspire me to push the blog more and hopefully get word out the whole world! Well, what are you waiting for? There's fun awaiting!
This is just a seperator kind of line so that the words are seperated and everything is good so I really hope it works. TOday we are going to Sanjana and Rohan's house jk that's tomorrow b
This is just a seperator kind of line so that the words are seperated and everything is good so I really hope it works. TOday we are going to Sanjana and Rohan's house jk that's tomorrow b
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This is just a seperator kind of line so that the words are seperated and everything is good so I really hope it works. TOday we are going to Sanjana and Rohan's house jk that's tomorrow b
wow never knew about them..thanks for sharing the interesting information.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it!
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