Brief Summary

The Tardigrada are microscopic animals that look superficially like miniature eight-legged teddy bears. They live in habitats with at least intermittent moisture and can form resistant resting stages enabling them to endure extreme environmental conditions, including intense heat and cold, radiation, desiccation, even the vacuum of space. As of 2002, about 900 species had been described, but it’s likely that many more are still to be discovered.

(Becquerel, 1950; Crowe et al., 1998; Nelson, 2002; Ruppert et al., 2004; Horikawa et al., 2006; Jönsson et al., 2008)