The invincible tardigrade — already a weird animal — is full of DNA stolen from bacteria

wapo ^ | November 25 at 10:39 AM | Rachel Feltman

[Salamander]

You have no idea.

;D

[AdmSmith]

Like every other living thing, this little creature can fall victim to merciless parasites.

Read the horror story here:
http://dailyparasite.blogspot.se/2014/08/ballocephala-sphaerospora.html

and the result:

Illustration by Lizzie Harper of Ballocephala sphaerospora that has infected a tardigrade.

[Salamander]

Nooooooo!

Poor little guys!

:(

[AdmSmith]

Agree, but if you look at the site http://dailyparasite.blogspot.se/ you can find the weirdest parasites.

[Grimmy]

This is sooo obviously The Thing in larval form but is anyone connecting the dots?!!? Nope. Not even trying.

It’s like a global conspiracy to get those guys at the Antarctic station slaughtered.

[JoeProBono]

[AdmSmith]

Researchers have successfully revived microscopic creatures that had been kept frozen for 30 years.

Scientists at at Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research retrieved the creatures from a frozen moss sample collected in Antarctica in 1983. The sample had been stored at -20 C for just over three decades.

The previous survival record for adult tardigrades under frozen conditions was eight years, and a much earlier study had suggested that the upper limit for survival under normal atmospheric oxygen conditions was about 10 years.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/12102714/Animal-brought-back-to-life-after-spending-30-years-frozen.html

[JoeProBono]

[SunkenCiv]

Figures, the Tardigrave is that time travel box Dr Who uses... wait, what?

[Daffynition]

Stop your microagression!

[Daffynition]

Deviant! :)

[Salamander]

Love ‘em madly!

[Daffynition]

Your DNA test proves...YOU'RE NOT THE MOTHER...or THE FATHER!!

[shibumi]

After consulting with my Mongolian Shaman, Genghis Gurragchaa...

...he has informed me that the Tardigrade is my second alternate Spirit Animal.

This will greatly augment my quest for Enlightenment as my primary Spirit Animal, the Giant, Three-toed Arboreal Sloth was taking his own sweet time seeking transcendence.

[Koracan]

Not so tough after all.

....a living tardigrade that's not in the cryptobiotic state is actually pretty fragile.
If you stuck a living, active tardigrade directly into liquid nitrogen, boiling water, your own stomach acid, etc. etc., you'd kill it instantly.
Your own immune defenses would make short work of any tardigrade that got into your bloodstream.
Tardigrades can get attacked by viruses and bacteria and fungi and predatory nematodes, and they can be physically damaged as well.
There are lots of things that can kill them.

[Salamander]

Buzz kill.

[Daffynition]

Sorry, I'm *Tardy to the Party* ...oh yeah! ;(