• Question: Have you ever saw a water bear / tardigrade?

    Asked by anon-190546 to Matt, Maia, Liam, Dionne on 15 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Dionne Turnbull

      Dionne Turnbull answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      Not in real life, just cute pictures online! They are also known as moss piglets.

      Do you know about ‘cryptobiosis’? Water bears can go into a deep deep sleep (almost dead but not quite, their bodies slow down to less than 0.01% of normal!) That lets them survive extreme conditions for more than 30 years sometimes! Cool 😀

    • Photo: Liam Taylor

      Liam Taylor answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      I haven’t, but I have a microscope in the lab so I will definitely go out and grab some moss and try and find some cute water bears! If I find any I’ll come back and share the pictures!

    • Photo: Matt Bower

      Matt Bower answered on 18 Nov 2018:

      I haven’t. They sound really cute (and really interesting) I don’t ever want to see one coming out of someone’s tap!

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