Tardigrade parade

Why yes, I am watching Cosmos…why do you ask?

Actually I think I first time learned about extremophiles, including tardigrades, was while watching the BBC’s Blue Planet series…which I have on DVD, and have watched so many times. I’m looking forward to re-watching Cosmos too, because there are so many things to absorb that one viewing isn’t nearly enough.

I figure the the tardigrade in this parade is on a scale of about 10,000 times its normal size. It just amused me to think of blowing one up that large and using it like a Chinese dragon in a festival. Tardigrades are incredibly resilient (that’s an understatement), but they’re not the most attractive creatures out there– they look like a naked mole rat and a lamprey had a threesome with a trash bag which resulted in progeny. They are fascinating, though, because they seemingly can exist– and even thrive– anywhere. It’s amazing that the tardigrade isn’t any sports team’s mascot…at least, that I know of.  It’s definitely worthy!