Page 230 - (DK) I Can’t Believe It! 2

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What’s the most

indestructible

animal? Tardigrades are

(0.5 mm) long.
Tardigrades, also called about 0.02 in
water bears, are classed as
extremophiles: creatures
that can adapt and survive

in the harshest conditions.

In extreme environments,
a tardigrade sheds more than
95 percent of its body water and
shrivels into a blob, called a tun.
Tardigrades
can survive more
BORN SURVIVORS than 285 times
the radiation
a human can
stand.

This close-up of a tardigrade shows it has 5,700 gray (Gy)
tiny claws at the end of its four pairs of
stumpy legs. It is a tiny animal that lives in
moisture, using its claws to clamber through
moss, soil, or sand.

US_228-229_309600_Toughest_animal.indd 228 19/12/17 3:48 pm