Tardigrade/ Water bear

Tardigrade is a segmented micro-animal, which belongs to the clade Tacpotoda, phyla

Tardigrada. An animal with a wrinkled long chubby body, eight legs with eights claws on
each. They are also called water bear because of their shape and gait is reminiscent of a bear.
A water bear does not have any eye, but instead, it has a big mouth in front of its head to chew
food.1 Most of the water bears are plant eaters or bacteria eaters, but some are cannibalistic.2
While we find a strange sense of cuteness in this animal, it is also the toughest animal on
Earth.
Tardigrade is tiny, microscopic size. The biggest adult has been recorded is 1.5mm, but the
average size of an adult is about 0.5mm long, and they can only be seen under the
microscope. There are more than 1,150 species of Tardigrade have been found. They can live
anywhere on Earth. From deep in the sea or in the highest mountain, and even in outer space,
it has occupied everywhere in the universe. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact
that Tardigrade has eight legs and its special adaptations to survive in extreme conditions such
as the vacuum of outer space, or dryness, an extreme level of radiation, extremely high or low
temperature...etc.…3
Anhydrobiosis is the process that helps the tardigrade survives in the dryness.4 The tun state
will be activated5, and a matrix will be formed by filling its cells by a unique molecule.6 It will
help the cells "being alive" under dryness. Tardigrade can also produce proteins that allow
them to dry out and survive extreme temperatures, radiation or even the vacuum of space.7

1
https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html
2
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37384466
3
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150313-the-toughest-animals-on-earth
4
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40752669
5
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/meet-the-tardigrade-the-toughest-animal-on-earth-thomas-boothby
6
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/27/health/tardigrade-water-bear-survival-study/index.html
7
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tardigrades-arent-champion-gene-swappers-after-all
 Source

Ted-ED: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/meet-the-tardigrade-the-toughest-animal-on-earth-
thomas-boothby
By Thomas Boothby
Access: 08/12/17

BBC: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150313-the-toughest-animals-on-earth
By Jasmin Fox-Skelly
Last changed: 13 March 2015
Access: 02/12/17

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40752669
By Sarah GabbottScience writer
Last changed: 28 July 2017
Access: 04/12/17

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37384466
By Nathan Tauger and Victoria Gill
BBC Science reporters
Last changed: 20 September 2016
Access: 03/12/17

Science News: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tardigrades-arent-champion-gene-

swappers-after-all
By Tina Hesman Saey
Last changed: 2:06 PM, July 27, 2017
Magazine issue: Vol. 192 No. 2, August 19, 2017, p. 13
Access: 08/12/17

Microbial Life - Educational Resources:

https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html
Created by Sarah Bordenstein, Marine Biological Laboratory
Access: 09/12/17

CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/27/health/tardigrade-water-bear-survival-
study/index.html
By Ashley Strickland, CNN
Last changed: 2012 GMT (0412 HKT) July 27, 2017
Access: 07/12/17

 
 Source Evaluation

Wikipedia: This is not a source because it is an open encyclopedia so anyone can edit it, but
there are some sources are linked to the article on the site. This is not a reliable source, but a
source collection instead. Although we cannot use Wikipedia as a source, but it is still a
valuable tool in order to have a basic grasp of the research subject.
BBC: This is as a reliable source because it is the public broadcasting in the UK with a long
history.
CNN: This is as a reliable source because it is one of the the major news outlets in the US.
Science News: This is an orthodox science magazine and a reliable source.
Microbial Life - Educational Resources: This is a digital library site managed by NASA,
which is reliable.
TED-ED: This could be considered as a reliable source to extent. They claim that "Each
lesson on TED-ED has been reviewed by a team of educators and experts".