Posted on 05/21/2023 12:31:18 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Is this an alien? Probably not, but of all the animals on Earth, the tardigrade might be the best candidate. That's because tardigrades are known to be able to go for decades without food or water, to survive temperatures from near absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, to survive pressures from near zero to well above that on ocean floors, and to survive direct exposure to dangerous radiations. The far-ranging survivability of these extremophiles was tested in 2011 outside an orbiting space shuttle. Tardigrades are so durable partly because they can repair their own DNA and reduce their body water content to a few percent. Some of these miniature water-bears almost became extraterrestrials in 2011 when they were launched toward to the Martian moon Phobos, and again in 2021 when they were launched toward Earth's own moon, but the former launch failed, and the latter landing crashed. Tardigrades are more common than humans across most of the Earth. Pictured here in a color-enhanced electron micrograph, a millimeter-long tardigrade crawls on moss.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Maybe, if someday they discover life on an exoplanet, the most advanced life form will be the local version of a tardigrade.
Maybe, if DNA sampling is done, democRATs will be found to be linked to “Re”tardigrades. I think so.
In addition to going for decades without food or water and surviving low and high temperatures and pressures, the tardigrades appears to have greater intelligence than Dementiajoe and Kamalamadingdong combined.
Of course, that’s not really saying much.
If humankind doesn't get its act together and grow beyond its animal nature, the most advanced life form that visiting aliens will discover here will be tardigrades.
What an amazing creature. Long after we’ve gone from this planet, they’ll still be here.
As a child, I had a stuffed animal that looked like that. I named him... who cares?
https://a-z-animals.com/blog/what-do-tardigrades-eat/
Tardigrades have been known to eat the following foods:
Algae
Moss
Flowering plants
Other plant matter
Bacteria
Rotifers
Other tardigrades
Other microorganisms
Tardigrades have a digestive system, but not a respiratory or circulatory system. They are capable of eating microorganisms and digesting them, but they thrive on liquid substances- this is also where they get their oxygen.
(More at link)
The solar wind has been blowing microbes into space for billions of years. Some can survive vacuum and ultraviolet radiation. These have been captured by all the other planets
Maybe there are blue whale style tardigrades in Jupiters atmosphere. Lol.
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