Where To Find Water Bears

Tardigrades also known as water bears or space bears are incredible members of the microcosmos that can be found just about anywhere in the world.

Where to find water bears.

These eight legged invertebrates are only 0 1 1mm long yet they are certainly the world s toughest animals. Water bears can live just about anywhere. Tardigrades also called water bears or moss piglets refer to over 1 150 species of microscopic aquatic animals that can be found in moss ferns lichens soil beaches dunes and other damp habitats all over the planet and you can find one in this excellent science experiment outdoor expedition. They can survive a wide range of temperatures.

They are also known as tardigrades which means slow walker and the name water bear comes from the bear like way they walk. All tardigrades are considered aquatic because they need water around their bodies to permit gas exchange as well as to prevent uncontrolled desiccation. They can most easily be found living in a film of water on lichens and mosses as well as in sand dunes soil sediments and leaf litter. Tardigrades are the toughest animal on the earth.

Water bears can survive in hot springs in the deep ocean under solid layers of ice and even after exposure to deadly irradiation. In adapting to this wide range of external conditions a large number of genera and species have evolved. Just how tough are they. They live in a variety of habitats worldwide.

Water bear a scanning electron micrograph of a tardigrade or water bear. How can they do that. The name water bear comes from the way they walk reminiscent of a bear s gait the name tardigradum means slow walker and was given by lazzaro spallanzani in 1777. You may hear that the water bears official name.

Johann august ephraim goeze originally named the tardigrade kleiner wasserbär meaning little water bear in german today they are often referred to in german as bärtierchen or little bear animal. They prefer to live in sediment at the bottom of a lake on moist pieces of moss or other wet environments. In damp moss on flowering plants in sand in fresh water and in the sea. Soft lichen is more likely to have tardigrades than hard crusty lichen.