The Strongest Animal
What do you think the strongest life form ever is? What do you think the HARSHEST environment is that the animal you’re thinking of would be able to survive in? A bear atop Mount Everest? A tiger trapped in a freezing cave? If you thought anything among the lines of what I just said, you’d probably be wrong. As of today, the answer is the tardigrade. The tardigrade, otherwise known as water bears or moss piglets, is currently known as the strongest life form. It can survive temperatures just over absolute 0, heat higher than the boiling point of water, pressures as much as 6 oceans stacked on top of it, and doses of radiation a HUNDRED times greater than what would be lethal of a regular human. What do you think such an animal would look like you may ask? Well, it’s pretty much just a plump, short caterpillar-like creature that’s about half a millimeter long and most of the time, it just walks around on moss or algae, just sucking up moisture from it. Humans have such an interest in these little things that they have been doing many experiments on them. For example, the European Space Agency has been sending tardigrades to orbit. When in space, the tardigrades are let out, and recaptured later. They send them up, out of the atmosphere, and the tardigrades usually come back down, usually perfectly fine. On one mission, the tardigrades had babies, and they were normal, too! The European Space Agency calls the experiment Tardigrades in Space, and the shortened name is “Tardis”! Of course the European Space Agency would make such a great reference to British Culture in the name of their project. In conclusion, tardigrades are very, very wonderful, strong, and interesting animals, and will be known for their great accomplishments, whether it is surviving in the depths of the ocean, swimming in boiling water, or even floating in the vacuum of space.
By,
Russel Rivera, 2/10/15
What do you think the strongest life form ever is? What do you think the HARSHEST environment is that the animal you’re thinking of would be able to survive in? A bear atop Mount Everest? A tiger trapped in a freezing cave? If you thought anything among the lines of what I just said, you’d probably be wrong. As of today, the answer is the tardigrade. The tardigrade, otherwise known as water bears or moss piglets, is currently known as the strongest life form. It can survive temperatures just over absolute 0, heat higher than the boiling point of water, pressures as much as 6 oceans stacked on top of it, and doses of radiation a HUNDRED times greater than what would be lethal of a regular human. What do you think such an animal would look like you may ask? Well, it’s pretty much just a plump, short caterpillar-like creature that’s about half a millimeter long and most of the time, it just walks around on moss or algae, just sucking up moisture from it. Humans have such an interest in these little things that they have been doing many experiments on them. For example, the European Space Agency has been sending tardigrades to orbit. When in space, the tardigrades are let out, and recaptured later. They send them up, out of the atmosphere, and the tardigrades usually come back down, usually perfectly fine. On one mission, the tardigrades had babies, and they were normal, too! The European Space Agency calls the experiment Tardigrades in Space, and the shortened name is “Tardis”! Of course the European Space Agency would make such a great reference to British Culture in the name of their project. In conclusion, tardigrades are very, very wonderful, strong, and interesting animals, and will be known for their great accomplishments, whether it is surviving in the depths of the ocean, swimming in boiling water, or even floating in the vacuum of space.
By,
Russel Rivera, 2/10/15