A paean to the greatest microorganism of all the time, the tardigrade! These bizarrely adorable little heroes can survive almost anything. Check it out!
lyrics
The tardigrade is a micro-animal,
sometimes known as a water bear
you can also call it a moss piglet -
it lives here, there, and most everywhere
Tardigrades are aquatic invertebrates,
soft and slow, segmented and strange
and built to survive! Half a billion years later,
even their ancestors’ fossils remain.
Yes, the tardigrade is a tubular animal
Tiny, tenacious, and tougher and than tough
From the high Himalayas to deep-sea volcanoes
There’s no one on Earth made of sturdier stuff!
Tardigrades can withstand radiation
and live for ten days in the vacuum of space,
or dehydrate, induce metabolic suspension for years,
and come back
and MAKE MORE TARDIGRADES!
Trooping and trundling, tumbling tardigrades
Buoyant and beautifully bumbling tardigrades!
Nature at her most mysterious mischief
This model of wonderful weirdness hath made!
Its mouth is tubular (stylets for piercing!)
Its limbs are tubular (wee little claws!)
Its trunk is tubular (barrel of swimmies!)
Sometimes its glands are tubular too!
Yes, the tardigrade is a tubular animal
Tiny, tenacious, and tougher and than tough
From Antarctic ice to subtropical springs
There’s no one on Earth made of sturdier stuff!
From time immemorial to low Earth orbit
There is nobody else made of sturdier stuff!
I could listen to Lauren sing forever. Her writing is vivid and sensitive, sweetly and painfully human--never apologizing for sharp corners and rough edges. The beauty of her spirit shines through. Summer Russell
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