WATER BEAR
A Tiny new species dubbed 'water bear' has been discovered in Antarctica and members of this species can survive in space, researchers said. They found new creature while on a trip to Victoria land, some 5,600 kms south of Australia . The creature is a member of the Tardigrade family.
"Under the microscope, they are slow walkers but they look like bears walking. they have 4 pairs of legs but they can hold their back legs down arch themselves up to reach things, " Sandra McInnes of British Antarctic Survey was quoted as saying.
"They have been tested in space, under liquid nitrogen, put under pressure and had chemicals thrown over them but they are fine after being washed in water, " McInnes added .
This is the only kind of creature known that can survive in the vacuum of space.
Tardigrades, or water bears, are water dwelling micro-animals with 8 legs . The tiny creatures are certainly strange-looking with their 8 chubby legs, little claws and probing heads. A number of them, no bigger than half a millimeter, were lurking on mosses with in a crater hollowed out by ancient glaciers. They can survive the rigours of Antarctica and we have also been tested with extremes of cold, heat, pressure, dehydration, poison and radioactivity. Some experts have compared their shapes with jelly babies or moles but tardigrades they should not be judged by their 'cute' appearance. They are virtually indestructible - they will not die even if they are boiled, frozen, squeezed under pressure or desiccated.
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