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JAWelcome to my tardigrade menagerie! 🥹
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Tardigrades are microscopic animals, also known as water bears. There are over 1500 described species of tardigrades, and many more waiting to be discovered. They are among the most common animals on Earth, inhabiting freshwater, marine, and terrestrial habitats such as soil, moss, and forest litter.
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Their bodies are made of only a few thousand cells, and some species have simple eyes that can detect the presence of light which comes in handy when you feed on algae that swim toward illuminated areas.
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Some species of tardigrades can form dormant structures when they experience environmental stress. In this dormant state, they can survive drying out, extreme temperatures and pressures, and high levels of radiation for a limited period of time. However, when they are active (like in these clips) they are very delicate animals. A misplaced coverslip would be enough to end their few-weeks-long active lifespans.
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I keep my slides with tardigrades in humidity chambers so I can observe their lives for longer. They live, reproduce, and pass away as I document them. I only had one idol in my life, Jane Goodall, and since I found my first tardigrade almost nine years ago, I’ve been naming my tardigrades just like Dr. Jane named her chimpanzees. But on some slides they reproduce so successfully that I end up with dozens of little ones who look identical, which makes naming them quite challenging. 😂 Do you have a favorite one here?
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Thank you for reading! If you’d like to support me, there is a link in my bio. ❤️
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Best,
James Weiss
@jam_and_germs










