Natures ultimate survivors are not what you think

 


If I were to ask which animal is most likely to survive harsh conditions or an extinction event most people would probably say the cockroach. After all, they can live for a week without a head! 

But cockroaches are far behind natures ultimate survivors, the tardigrade. Also known as a moss piglet or water bear, the tardigrades are unique because they can (and have) survived the harshest conditions known to man and done so for billions of years.

These very tiny animals are generally only 1mm long fully grown but you have to admit, they're kind of cute. They have a flat head, eight legs, and at the end of each leg are either claws or suction cup like appendages.

They have survived in the vacuum of outer space and can survive in freshwater, salt water, deserts, artic regions as well as sand and other generally inhospitable environments.

Tardigrade specimens found in moss after 120 years have, seemingly by magic, come "back" to life after being unthawed.

How is this possible? Because of something called cryptobiosis.

During cryptobiosis, a tardigrade's metabolic activity drops to as little as 0.01% of normal levels. Its cells are protected from damage by water-soluble proteins that are unique to tardigrades, known as tardigrade disordered proteins, or TDPs. When tardigrades expel their body's water, TDP molecules form a tough, glasslike cocoon around cells. This keeps cellular material safe while the tardigrade is a tun and enables it to reanimate in water when conditions are more hospitable, according to a 2017 study published in the journal Molecular Cell.<

For more information about tardigrades, please click on the full article below.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ORIGINAL ARTICLE


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