Tardigrades: Resilient Water Bears

The indestructible and amazing Tardigrades or Water Bears are eight-legged micro animals only visible with a microscope. At only .02 inches they have been around for half a billion years and simply do not perish except from old age. Named by an Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1776 because tardigrades means ‘slow walkers’ in Latin.

The little water bears epitomize resilience and endure all types of trauma that normally end life for most other living creatures. Just a few of the extreme conditions that don’t seem to effect them are temperature of freezing -450 F or 300 F heat, lack of air, dehydration, starvation and even trips to outer space so yes the scientists are trying to learn from these little guys and gals. They tend to live in sea and fresh water and are hermaphroditic so carry incredible ability to reproduce.

If Tardigrades can elect to live without food or water for decades by curling in a tun they can teach scientists so much about  survival. They have been found in the arctic ice and volcanos and survived radiation in a trip with our astronauts to outer space. There are 900 species of tardigrades and currently scientists are studying their genetics to identify the proteins that repair DNA damage.

As for me, the little stuffed pillow replica of a water bear pictured above is part of my collection and a great reminder of resilience!

Also pictured are a few bodies of water where the tiny microscopic animals live and thrive.