If you are tough and resilient, adaptable to change, and hard to kill, then, some may call you superman, Rocky Balboa, Iron Man or perhaps the Rock of Gibraltar, I suppose. They may even call you tough as nails.   But when it comes to animals, then, the toughest is without question, the mighty Tardigrade.

What is a Tardigrade?  They are called water bears, and are basically aquatic animals and difficult to classify, except they are not arthropods like spiders and crabs. They are about 1mm in length, or about the size of a period made at the end of this sentence.  So, that means they actually can be seen by the naked eye in certain conditions.  They have a celom, a digestive tract and other organs, a definite head, four body segments and eight legs that are terminated by claws, believe it or not.

They are apparently everywhere, including fresh water, sea water, damp moss, flowering plants etc.  So enough about biology, right?  But why should we care about these tiny water bears? I’m not sure, but it is fascinating that they can be exposed to extreme temperatures, pressures, air deprivation, radiation, starvation and dehydration and still survive, unlike any other animal in the world. When they encounter extremely low temperatures or desiccation, they transform themselves into suspended animation of some type, the “tun” state —like a dried up, lifeless ball and remain in this state for years until conditions are more favorable. They can survive for 8 days in a vacuum, outer space, exposure to minus 272 degrees centigrade for several hours then come back to life at room temperature.  I guess you can say they are indestructible because you can basically boil them, bake them, deep-freeze them, crush or dehydrate them or blast them into space and they survive, and usually come back to life in the proper condition.

So why should we care about these little period bears?  I have no idea.  And yet I wonder, if they are so strong and indestructible, why are they here on earth and if you believe in the purest form of Darwinian Evolution (which is scientifically unsound anyway), then, what is their function on earth?  In fact, if they can survive in the vacuum of outer space, does that mean they are alien, or brought to earth by Aliens a million years ago?

Some biologists have studied them, of course, especially with the thought to develop pharmaceuticals and vaccines that no longer need to be kept on ice and instead can be dried out and re-animated on site of need.

So, these little water bears can seemingly survive anything, like no other animal can —including us, but we are the ones who use our minds to create nuclear bombs, cities, weapons of war and AI, yet these little dudes will probably out-survive us after we meet our end.  So, is that their purpose then?  To out-survive us, then take over the world that remains?

So be prepared. Don’t be offended if someone calls you a Tardigrade someday.  Accept it as a complement that you are tough as nails and indestructible, although, you may not be the prettiest or most handsome creature.  Depends on what suits you the most:  do you want to be tough and resilient or do you want to be a supermodel?

© SRCarson Publications, 2023