Water Bear - Strongest Creature In The World

Every animal will have its limit whereby the animals in the mountains cannot survive deep in the ocean. Animals in the river cannot live near the volcanic ashes and the ones from the freezing tundra cannot set foot in the tropical rainforest. However, there is one creature amongst it all that is not considered an animal but can sustain the harsh environment.

This particular creature was found by scientists in 1773 and the most shocking part about this water bear is its relative size being 0.5 millimeters as it reaches adults with four pairs of legs. It is very durable and can survive in any type of environment.

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The heat cannot burn them and the cold will definitely not tear them apart. Scientists have conducted experiments on this water bear by placing them in a vacuum chamber with no air and surprisingly it was able to survive on top of living in a radiation condition. This also means that the water bear can also thrive in the void of space.

In a mission, scientists have revealed that water bears were experiencing dehydration in outer space. As it reaches the Earth, more than 68% of the water bears still live while some of them are injured. Outer space is definitely a dangerous place to wander especially for us humans.

Humans can faint in just 15 seconds and ultimately die after being exposed for just 80 seconds to the space void. The water bears can also survive despite being shot with a gun. One scientist found out in an experiment that these water bears can withstand a high-velocity impact situation or some might say a hard slap to the face.

The motive of this research was to identify theoretically any water bears that came to earth by riding on these meteorites that crash into earth. Seeing its capability, it is without a doubt that water bears can definitely sustain a living on earth that is not even completed yet.

The scientist collected the water bears inside a nylon bullet which was frozen off to hibernate them. Later the water bears were shot onto the surface of the sand. They were hit hard at a speed of 900 meters/sec and with a staggering pressure of 1.14 gigaPa.

To their surprise, the water bears were seen casually walking around as if nothing happened despite being shot at. However, the impact of this force is far much less in comparison to a meteorite.

This means that a water bear cannot live if they were to ride on a meteorite so this means that there were not considered among the first organism to flourish on earth back then. Even though water bears are very durable, it has a very low lifespan.

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Some of the species were believed to only live for merely 2 years while some only get to see the day for 4 months. This situation is followed for millions of years as the water bears have gone through many extinctions event mainly; 1)Ordovician-Silurian 2)Devonian Lama 3)Capitanian 4) Permian-Triassic 5)Triassic-Jurassic and 6)Cretaceous-Paleogene.

It was not sure whether the water bears have learned anything from this but one thing for sure is that this event certainly did not cease to exist for the survival of this creature. Water bears are definitely not immortal as scientists also found that they can die when exposed to extreme environments for too long.

For instance, water bears can live for 30 years at -20°C due to hibernation. But at a temperature of -200°C, the creature will definitely die in just a few days. A similar can be said when they are exposed to high heat like 151 °C.

Some believed that perhaps in the future, water bears will be able to endure those extreme temperatures if they managed to adapt themselves.

Water bears practice external fertilization to produce the egg which will later hatch to offset its role to the surroundings. In most cases, a water bear will hatch in 14 days. Such a fascinating creature to learn which may help us in the development of science in the future. 

Source:

• Courtland, R. (2008, September 8). ‘Water bears’ are first animals to survive space vacuum. New Scientist.

• Glime, J. (2010). Tardigrade. Bryophyte Ecology. 2.

• Lee, N. (2020). Biotechnological Applications of Extremophilic Microorganisms. Walter deGruyter GmBH & Co KG.

• Miller, W. (2017, Jun 2). Tardigrades. American Scientist.

• Pappas, S. (2020). Adorable tardigrades have surprising, fatal weakness. LiveScience.

• Traspas, A., & Burchell, M.J. (2021). Tardigrade Survival Limits in High-Speed Impacts – Implications for Panspermia and Collection of Samples from Plumes Emitted by Ice Worlds. Astrobiology.

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