For the final day of #InverteFest I'm going to do a thread celebrating tardigrades

These tiny animals are also known as "water bears" or "moss piglets". Here's one on the tip of a moss leaf

#Tardigrade #WaterBear #TardigradeTuesday 1/n

Tardigrade species vary in size and colour, and can be identified by a number of features such as their claws, egg details, and their feeding apparatus.

These are a few of my favourite tardigrades

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A very interesting group are the Heterotardigrades, which have spines, thorns & armour plates. They're usually orange or red in colour, with a pointed bear-like face

I find them most often in moss gathered from trees. They're extremely small and slow!

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The name tardigrade means "slow-stepping".

They often appear quite clumsy as they move around under a microscope which is part of the reason I love them.

Here's one bumping into a rock.

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Tardigrades feed on fluids - often from plant cells, but they can also eat other micro organisms!

This sometimes doesn't end well....

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In this video I discuss a sad, messy case of #tardigrade death by worm

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But after tardigrades have eaten, they need to excrete their waste.

Here are three different tardigrade poop moments!
(I was actually pretty excited to film these)

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One of the most interesting #tardigrade tricks is going dormant when conditions aren't suitable.

This is known as the "tun" state

In the video below, the tardi was dried out & in tun state, but it became active when I added water again

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In many #tardigrade species the females will lay their eggs when they moult, leaving the eggs to develop inside the shed skin

I absolutely love seeing this

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Here are before & after photos of tardigrade eggs, with a video of one of the babies!

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Tardigrades live everywhere - in thin water films on moss and lichen, in puddles, rivers, and the ocean.

I haven't yet found a marine tardigrade, but here's a very beautiful example from @rmartinledo!

They have such incredible feet!

https://twitter.com/rmartinledo/status/1272894019127951363?s=20

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And finally, I’ll wrap up this thread with a short video about #tardigrade fossils

They’ve been around a long time!

I hope you’ve enjoyed celebrating these lovely little animals with me

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