3/15/2006: Water Bears, the world's toughest animal

Undertoad · 03-15-2006, 12:00 PM

Oh man, what if this thing was comin' straight for ya! Too bad you wouldn't notice it - the biggest one would be a millimeter and a half in size, and you'd probably find it on a lichen or moss.

AxlRosen suggests this item. The "water bear" is more properly called a "tartigrade", and it was blogged about last week by Notes from the Technology Underground. I never heard of it before, but this thing is amazing. As blogger Bill Gurstelle writes:

Quote:

Now here's the thing I really like about tartigrades. They are apparently the World's Toughest Animal. You can shoot them into space, take them to the deepest ocean depths and let them go, deprive them of air, water, and food for years and they don't care. Send them into the core of nuclear reactor. They'll be fine.

Then he posts the Wikipedia link for the little dudes, where there are more amazing facts. They can hang out at 150 degrees C, or close to absolute zero. They found a living one that had been hibernating for 120 years.

Enh. I'm not impressed. Name me one tartigrade that's won the Nobel prize.

Trilby · 03-15-2006, 12:05 PM

umm...these things live on lichen or moss, right? not on people, right? Right?!

xant · 03-15-2006, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Enh. I'm not impressed. Name me one tartigrade that's won the Nobel prize.

Not yet. These things will outlive the cockroaches, and when they do, the speciesist Nobel committee will no longer be an issue.

xoxoxoBruce · 03-15-2006, 08:14 PM

I spent 20 minutes looking at a bunch of sites. The color pictures show them bright red, but they can be orange or green, they have one gonad, they live everywhere and they'll withstand 5700 grays of x-ray radiation. (Five grays would be fatal to a human).
But nobody says what they eat?

barefoot serpent · 03-16-2006, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

The color pictures show them bright red, but they can be orange or green

those are the tarted-up tartigrades

jinx · 03-16-2006, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

But nobody says what they eat?

From http://152.2.81.1/parkproject/harp/C...rade_page.html Tartigrades feed upon detritus and fresh plant material. Some are predatory on smaller invertebrates.

Pancake Man · 03-15-2006, 08:02 PM

Bet he can't survive a lecture by my English teacher...

AureliusVin · 03-15-2006, 08:24 PM

Damn, you think you could get one of these guys at a local pet shop? I'd pay a fine price for a little colony of tartigrades.

xoxoxoBruce · 03-15-2006, 08:27 PM

They're free! And they're everywhere.

binky · 03-16-2006, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AureliusVin

Damn, you think you could get one of these guys at a local pet shop? I'd pay a fine price for a little colony of tartigrades.

My ten year old learned about these last year and would LOVE a bunch of these

jojo · 03-15-2006, 08:30 PM

don't they look all rubbery and squishy like they're filled with stretch armstrong gunk?

skysidhe · 04-09-2006, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jojo

don't they look all rubbery and squishy like they're filled with stretch armstrong gunk?

It does look like armstrong gunk!

So people actually get paid to do those experiments to that poor thing you need a microscope to see??

Not fair all the fun stuff requires a degree of doctor- ish
porportions. :p

wolf · 03-15-2006, 09:13 PM

Thank you for making them just that little bit more disturbing. Good job.

jojo · 03-15-2006, 09:26 PM

how come they get to have 7 fingers and we only get 5.

Elspode · 03-15-2006, 11:41 PM

We were given dual gonads as compensation. That, and we aren't quite as fucking ugly as that thing.

Can you grow these any bigger?

03-15-2006, 12:05 PM	#2
Trilby Slattern of the Swail Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 15,654	umm...these things live on lichen or moss, right? not on people, right? Right?! __________________ In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic. "Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her. —James Barrie Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum

03-15-2006, 08:14 PM	#4
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	I spent 20 minutes looking at a bunch of sites. The color pictures show them bright red, but they can be orange or green, they have one gonad, they live everywhere and they'll withstand 5700 grays of x-ray radiation. (Five grays would be fatal to a human). But nobody says what they eat? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

03-15-2006, 08:02 PM	#7
Pancake Man Hand-of-Kindness Extender Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 131	Bet he can't survive a lecture by my English teacher... __________________ Abandon all hope, o ye who read my posts

03-15-2006, 08:27 PM	#9
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	They're free! And they're everywhere. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

03-15-2006, 09:13 PM	#13
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Thank you for making them just that little bit more disturbing. Good job. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

03-15-2006, 08:24 PM	#8
AureliusVin Expectorant Inspector Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 31	Damn, you think you could get one of these guys at a local pet shop? I'd pay a fine price for a little colony of tartigrades.

03-15-2006, 08:30 PM	#11
jojo is anyone home? Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: state of denial Posts: 42	don't they look all rubbery and squishy like they're filled with stretch armstrong gunk?

03-15-2006, 09:26 PM	#14
jojo is anyone home? Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: state of denial Posts: 42	how come they get to have 7 fingers and we only get 5.

03-15-2006, 11:41 PM	#15
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	We were given dual gonads as compensation. That, and we aren't quite as fucking ugly as that thing. Can you grow these any bigger? __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)