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Meet the tardigrade, also called a water bear. Its body varies from 0.05 to 1.25 mm. They
live among the mosses and lichens. There is no circulatory system and respiratory system.
The gaseous exchanges are performed randomly, anywhere in the body. Most feeds by sucking
the cellular content of bacteria or algae. They are found all over the planet, from the
seafloor to the top of the Himalayas. Withstands temperatures close to absolute zero and also
extremely high temperatures of nearly 200 º C. They are long-lived, can live up to
120 years, which is a record for an animal so small. If nothing else possessing awesome
power repairman, the ***ígrados simply "turn off" your metabolism when there are adverse
conditions such as extreme drought. They also have the incredible ability to repair their
DNA damage caused by radiation. Withstand the pressure of 75 000 atmospheres, equivalent
to tens of times the pressure faced by the local animal deepest ocean. In September 2007,
the European Space Agency ***ígrados sent into space. The pets not only survived the
cosmic rays, ultraviolet radiation and lack of oxygen, but still were able to reproduce
in an environment so inhospitable. This resistance to an environment as extreme as the vacuum
of space without oxygen and being bombarded with high doses of cosmic radiation, is a
mystery unexplained. The ***ígrados are completely different from any other living
organism on our planet.