Tardigrades (Water Bears) Tardigrades are microscopic animals, indestructible creatures that can live up to 100 years. There are over 1,000 known species of tardigrades. The water bears mouth can telescope outward that reveal sharp teeth that allowed the water bear to grab on to the food. Tardigrades also can swim, and waters are there natural habitat, and are expected to avoid extinction, because of how tough they are.
Tardigrades have podgy faces with folds and wrinkles of flesh, and eight legs with ferocious claws. Their mouth is also a serious weapon, with dagger like teeth that can spear prey. They can’t harm you because they are one of nature's smallest animals, sizing 1 mm long, but they are weapons that are durable and unbreakable. When a tardigrade dries out, it retracts its head and legs. It molts its skin and inside the shed skin, its cells shut down their metabolism, lose most of their water that is stored inside their body, and protect their DNA. It enters a trance like state that closely resembles death. …show more content…
Cryptobiosis is when anything goes in a state of mind that closely resembles death. Cryptobiosis happens if tardigrades either experience lack of water, low temperature, increased solute concentration (salt water) and lack of oxygen. Water bears live in almost any kind of water, from lakes, to oceans in lichens, mosses, sand dunes, soil and sediments. Tardigrades often feed off the fluids of plant cells, animal cells, bacteria and juices from mosses and algae. They are easy to find almost anywhere from backyards in moss, to tropical oceans in Hawaii. These extremely hardy invertebrate animals can live up to 30 years without food or water. They can endure wild temperatures, radiation exposure and the vacuum of