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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Animals / Science And the Water Bears Shall Inherit the Earth

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 3:12 PM

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Used to be I liked to say that cockroaches and pigeons and rats will inherit the Earth, but obviously water bears, aka moss piglets—or you can call them tardigrades if you want to get all sciencey (and I do)—will long outlast any of those resourceful but nasty jerks. Science-types also like to call tardigrades the "hardiest animal on Earth" because they've developed a highly evolved power-nap strategy that involves shutting down "all but the essential biological processes when conditions are not conducive to supporting life." Sounds like me at a Pottery Barn!

Tardigrades can live anywhere on the planet, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from the Himalayas to the deep sea. In 2007, some Euronauts even chucked a few of them out into "harsh environment of open space" for 12 days and they lived. They enjoy a long lifespan and new generations form in a relatively short time (read: They fuck like bunnies and grow old like sea turtles.) Take that, great mountain burning with fire! Bonus animal fun fact of the day: Doves are just white pigeons, aka rats with wings.

 

Comments (8) RSS

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rob! 1
Shouldn't we call them leotardigrades?
Posted by rob! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBdUceCL5U on September 4, 2012 at 3:19 PM
Gordon Werner 2
the reason why there are pigeons everywhere is because people keep releasing them at special events.
Posted by Gordon Werner on September 4, 2012 at 3:32 PM
Pope Peabrain 3
It's not pigeons that are filling the air, land and seas full of garbage.
Posted by Pope Peabrain on September 4, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Zebes 4
Moss Piglet is an adorable name. I shall never be creeped out by these little guys again.
Posted by Zebes http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.html on September 4, 2012 at 4:09 PM
5
chucked a few of them out - link is broken. . .
Posted by fix_it on September 4, 2012 at 4:44 PM
6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H0E77TdY…

"Adorable"
Posted by ssmary on September 4, 2012 at 5:13 PM
Grant Brissey, Emeritus 7
@5: It seems to be working fine for me.
Posted by Grant Brissey, Emeritus http://www.grantropolis.com/ on September 4, 2012 at 5:31 PM
oh, THAT 8
"Sounds like me at a Pottery Barn!" Hahahaha!
Posted by oh, THAT on September 5, 2012 at 12:34 PM

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