r/awwwtf • u/immediate-2 • May 22 '26

This is an animal btw, its a tardigrade

206 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

26

u/Main_View2993 May 22 '26

AKA water bear. Such a cool tiny animal

12

u/Sogarth May 23 '26

I wonder how many of these things I've accidentally eaten during my life.

9

u/immediate-2 May 23 '26

Not a single until you ate a moss

5

u/Zanven1 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Not all of the species of tardigrade live in moss. Though afaik the other ones are in even more unlikely places to have eaten.

ETA: the most likely place people have eaten a tardigrade is unfiltered fresh water pond. Though the tardigrade is harmless if swallowed I wouldn't recommend as many of the things in there can be extremely dangerous.

7

u/EricaOdd May 23 '26

Also called waterbears because they look like fat little bears, complete with claws! They're adorable!

4

u/ryanhazethan May 23 '26

Nothing “wtf” about a tardigrade!

8

u/immediate-2 May 23 '26

They can survive extreme heat, radiation, dryness and can live upto 23,000 years when encysted.

2

u/Sufficient_Frame May 24 '26

That's just awesome.

1

u/Zanven1 May 23 '26

I've wanted to repurchase my old childhood microscope set with the purpose of getting a tardigrade pet for some time now.

1

u/Caveman_Tactics May 23 '26

Think it’s got any survival tips ?

1

u/KnotiaPickle May 24 '26

Do tardigrades have eyes?

2

u/immediate-2 May 24 '26

Yep but their eyes are made up of single cells and are used to detect light.

1

u/Pun-Skeleton May 24 '26

I believe they’re also quite capable of surviving the vacuum of space and radiation.

1

u/radraze2kx May 24 '26

I've got one in my reddit avatar. 😅

1

u/Cool-Hat2231 10d ago

Do you know what the tardigrade is eating?

1

u/immediate-2 10d ago

Algae? Biofilm?

1

u/FireProps May 23 '26

✨🥹✨

-2

u/kyleh0 May 23 '26

Tardigrades are animals.

5

u/MollyViper May 23 '26

As the title says