What are Tardigrades? Tardigrades are small invertebrates about 0.1 to 1 mm. in length commonly known as water bears. They are my favorite microscopic animals! Below is a video showing what a Tardigrade looks like:

Lyrics to Joli Dragon by Le Tone:

Joli Dragon
Où es-tu?

OuhouHouhou

Ououououou hou

Joli Dragon
Où est-tu?
Joli Dragon
Où est-tu?

Ououououou hou

OuhouHouhou

Joli Dragon
Où est-tu?
Joli Dragon
Où est-tu?

Ououououou hou

Joli Dragon
Où est-tu?
Joli Dragon
Où est-tu?

Ououououou hou

Joli Dragon
Aah, te voilà


Which translate as

Quote:
Pretty Dragon
Where are you?

Uh Uh Uh Uh

Uyuyuyuy Ow!

Pretty Dragon
Where are you?
Pretty Dragon
Where are you?

Uyuyuyuy Ow!

Uh Uh Uh Uh

Pretty Dragon
Where are you?
Pretty Dragon
Where are you?

Uyuyuyuy Ow!

Pretty Dragon
Where are you?
Pretty Dragon
Where are you?

Uyuyuyuy Ow!

Pretty Dragon
Ah, here you are

These cute little creatures are commonly found in or near ponds, but are known for being able to withstand extreme environments such as places with high temperatures, high salinity, and the vacuum of space through a process called cryptobiosis. Cryptobiosis is an ametabolic state that the organism enters into in response to adverse environmental conditions. 

Scientists don’t currently know a lot about tardigrades, but hope that future research will eventually lead to great discoveries such as how to perform cryptosurgery and cryptobiosis in humans, enabling us to preserve blood and food, and travel more effectively through space. There is also already a biostability company Biomatrica which offers many products that mimic anhydrobiosis (a process involved in cryptobiosis) to stabilize biological lab samples such as DNA and RNA at room temperature.

Most of all, I like the fact that they can be found everywhere and if you properly collect a few samples of damp moss and have microscope, you can observe these cute little creatures too. They generally just run around eating other microscopic plants and animals and are not harmful to humans.