Tardigrades: The Alpha Animal

Hey guys,

I was binge watching this amazing series on Nat Geo called "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey", and this introduced me to this species of micro animals called the Tardigrades (or Water Bears). After hearing the awe inspiring Neil DeGrasse Tyson talking about these extreme animals, I decided to go into further research about them.

Tardigrade are tiny. So small that they are only studied under microscopes. They spend most of thier lives in water, feeding of algae and moss. Discovered by Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, they have been studied by many, and in 1776 it was found by Lazzaro Spallanzani that they could withstand extreme living conditons. Tardigrades are believed to have survived through all 5 mass extinctions and have been dated back 500 million years being one of the oldest organisms ever.

So what is so special about these slug-with-thier-face-

pushed-in looking animals that never grow bigger than one and a half millimeters? Well, this might take a while.

1. To start with, tardigrades are THE only known living organisms that can live undisturbed in the void of space. In 2007, a bunch of tardigrades were sent up with a NASA space craft and launched into space for 10 days. Much to scientists awe, they all had survived and returned healthy as when they went on thier space walk.

2. If we were to stick our heads in microwaves, they would likely explode from the radiation. but Tardigrades would thrive as they can withstand ONE THOUSAND times the radiation that humans can.

3. Tempratures from -273 to 150 degrees celcius are the extreme conditions that Tardigrades can live in. From the top of the Himalayas, to the bottom of the Antarctic ice shelfs. The scorching waters of hot springs, and the driest deserts, Tardigrades can live through it all. When in freezing places, anything would start to grow ice crystals within thier cells, ruining them. But Tardigrades amazingly can suvuve through this too!

4. Under extremely high pressures and vacummed spaces, tardigrades live as normal as they would anywhere else. They can live without any water for more than 120 years. So how do they do it? When in exteme conditions, thier bodies go into a kind of intense sleep, where theier metabolism slows down greatly and they dry out like raisins.

Panspermia Hypothesis

This is the theory that micro-organisms, like the Tardigrade, can survive through space and end up on another planet if an asteriod where ever to hit Earth. In this hypothesis, the extremophiles will go into a death like state and can make it onto other planets. So far, Tardigrades prove this theory positive.

Being so tiny and oblivious to thier superpowers, Tardigrades have to be one of the most peculiar animals. They could be going on giant adventures into space, but instead they prefer to stay within the confines of water-logged leaves. So next time your watching Man vs. Wild, just think how weak Bear Grylls is compared to the Water Bear.

Sabrina Kainz