A Unique Creature on Earth That Can Live Forever

Earth is the only planet in our solar system, our galaxy, and potentially our entire universe that sustains life. Us humans believe we’re practically indestructible, but it turns out there’s a unique creature tougher than us that can’t be killed. Meet the tardigrade, one of the most resilient animals in the world – and possibly the universe. TIMESTAMPS It’s also called the water bear. 1:18 It’s really small. 2:20 It’s really, really old. 3:08 It can live anywhere. 4:02 It’s (mostly) harmless. 5:00 It’s practically unkillable. 6:04 It survives extinction events. 10:45 It might survive on another planet. 12:33 Music: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/... SUMMARY -A tardigrade is commonly called a water bear because it is most often found in water, where it prefers to dwell, and because of its slow gait, which resembles that of a bear. -The biggest full-grown tardigrade is about 0.5 mm or about 1/50 of an inch, which is smaller than flea and tick larva. -The earliest fossils we have of the tardigrade species date back to the Cambrian period, some 530 million years ago. -Tardigrades have been found on the high-altitude peaks of the Himalayas, in deep trenches in the ocean, in mud volcanoes, and in tropical rainforests. -These unique creatures move into a new environment and help to establish an ecosystem, not unlike a gold prospector setting up shop out in the frontier. -Many tardigrades can enter a dehydrated state to survive almost any dangerous outside environment. They curl up into a barrel shape, their bodies become glass-like, and they put themselves in stasis, during which time they’re pretty much indestructible. -The tardigrade has survived all possible extinction events, from the Ordovician-Silurian extinction 440 million years ago all the way up to the extinction events that took out the dinosaurs. -The conditions on Mars are within the tardigrades’ capabilities to survive, assuming that a sufficient amount of water exists to support them. Subscribe to Bright Side : https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook:   / brightside   Instagram:   / brightgram   5-Minute Crafts Youtube: https://www.goo.gl/8JVmuC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices