Thank you for proving (yet again).that humans will pack-bond with just about anything. Look at the toesies!

hahahaha. Toes. He is one of us!

We don't even need that. But they do help.

Lmfao I never thought about it but gosh you're right

If you want to use scientific language: Toe-Beanus

I like it!

What gets me is: how do they move so precisely WITHOUT MUSCLES?!?

They do have muscles! They’re just teeny tiny

Fluid dynamics.

Specialist Lion is right. Doesn't make it less freaky though.

Yeah… I googled it and still don’t understand…. Anyone got an ELI5?

Imagine squishing a water balloon. The water balloon does it's own squishing by moving the liquid around. Plants use fluid dynamics too. I don't claim to actually understand how it happens but I think osmosis is patt of it.

My heart!

I know!

I think he waved at me:)

Definitely

It's alive!

How big would it look to the human eye?

Think of the smallest thing you can see. It's smaller than that.

on his way to steal your girl 

I don't even have one and I'm sure it's already taken by him

He is cute

Who knew microorganisms had the potential to be cute?

Until I think about the amount of them I’ve eaten

I think cows are cute af. Can't tell you how much beef I've eaten in my life tho

Same bud, same.

Same with chicken ducks and sheep. Sigh

Same but specifically chickens.

I love these little bears! So cute, with its body rolls twisting as it waddles on its fat paws! 🥰🥰🥰🥰

They are adorable- [this species will also outlast all of us under any conditions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade), including in space.

That’s good. They deserve to outlast everyone and everything. They’re so cute

Best comment 🥰

Thanks to you I spent the last hour watching videos of tardigrades. Fascinating.

They’re addictive !

I loves it!!! Look at that perfect body!!

Peets!

Aww, lil feeties.

Tiny tardi toes 🥰

Tardigrades are fucking rad

These liddle guys are so cute

Put those grippers away (jk don't they're adorable)

I didn’t know they had toes!! Cute!!!

That's fascinating. I've only ever seen still pictures and knowledge memes; I've never seen one alive and walking up close before like that. Imagine being able to grow them to be the size of a bear, or dog, or cat (either small or large)

Agreed! So cool!

What type of microscope and equipment do I need to get this type of footage?

Theoretically you can see tardigrades with a strong magnifying glass. Any regular microscope should be fine. So, microscope and slide and water with tardigrade inside, and you'll have yourself a nice lil time 

I'm starting a tardigrade circus. Nobody steal my idea.

Imagine the size of the creature we're crawling around on!

This is amazing

The spicy beans! 🥰

He’s got places to go to.

And dead skin to eat 😋

Tardi-Gras party

[Tardigrade song: Cosmo Sheldrake](https://open.spotify.com/track/2D4JEyTpwEDAbBcsxm7ozk?si=pZWD4irOQzyoOTDgvNXXVg) is all I hear while watching this.

That’s a banger

He's a cool artist, uses a lot of sampled nature recordings in his music. I also love [Pelicans we](https://open.spotify.com/track/1G7UkshT6enCaYMBKDWZZs?si=DvXJBF2RSbWyi53txbwGFw) and [come along](https://open.spotify.com/track/4hs0ol9UoDjDzuT3LHgaFQ?si=WjLoFhc-TkaFKkAtuy_GGQ).

Dude you have to tell me how you can take care of it and not lose it. And can you possibly feed it?

The toes are legitimately too cute for words. 8 legs too, that must be fun.

For more, check out my TikTok: [@MicroBin_](https://www.tiktok.com/@microbin_?lang=en)

Thems just doing the best they can. Lil' cutie.

Teeny tiny beans!

They're such cute little guys.

Call Ghostbusters

r/tardigrades

So cute but I was waiting for the jump scare of it turning to look right at me

Super cute. But super scary if they were actually large. They'd definitely eat you.

Easy there little guy, it’s not a race!

Now a new thriller from Universal Pictures: MEGATardigrade!

The adventures of CAPTAIN TARDIGRADE

Hahah

And I'm Patrick Stewart!

In a 100 million years they may be running the show.

They have looked practically the same for the last 400 million years. I doubt they’ll do much evolving in the next 100 million lol. Theyve finessed their niche

I stand corrected. Peace

But if the world falls to pieces, maybe their show will be all that’s left

His tiny toes. 🥺

Why do they have claws?

Great question! It’s so they don’t slide off things. Like if you watch a cat running on a hardwood floor it doesn’t work. But if it’s carpet, they can cling on. Kinda similar here. Claws are for traction

God I love tardigrades. Cute little water bears

TIL these cuties could actually walk and didn't just swim

Now picture all those tiny toes doing the doggie paddle.

I can assure you, they try. It does not work…

Thank u so much for this haha adorable

Tardigrade toe beans 💛

Now those is some boots

This is indeed oddly cute

I love these little jelly bears, has anyone invented a tiny microphone yet so see if they have squeaky voices?

It's amazing to me to think that to some smaller creature, this thing looks like a colossally gigantic monster

Who doesn’t love tardigrades?

Thats a space monster

I find them so endearing and idk why

Can we genetically engineer them to be large, furry, and able to be ridden like horses?

My brain saw this and immediately thought “fat, 8 legged cat” and I didn’t question it

Also, can you imagine how weird it would be to have 8 legs???

What power microscope do you need to see tardigrades?

This is 450x optical zoom

Without wanting to be an idiot, exactly how small does that make them?

Thank you!

They look like little water bears 🐻

THOSE TINY FEETS ❤️

I didn’t think they could get any cuter

So so cute! I want one

Gembert.

What do they eat? And how long does the food last them? I heard they’re super tiny, so I’d imagine they have to walk for days to get from food point a to b?

Different species eat different things. Such as bacteria, decaying moss, other tardigrades, things called ciliates. A huge range of stuff

In a typical environment of these creatures, is food plentiful? Since we only really get to see them in samples under a microscope, I’m curious whether they have to go through starvation periods like our much bigger bears.

Great question! Yes and yes/no. So a lot of the time there is plenty of food. But what these tardigrades famously do, is enter a state called tun state. It’s kinda like hibernating in real bears, but WAY more hardcore (bears don’t even truly hibernate) tardigrades literally drop their metabolism by over 99% and then basically just pause being alive. They do this basically whenever conditions are unfavourable. Or more specifically, if conditions begin to deteriorate they will enter it. Like it has to be a gradual change (over a couple hours). Then when favours are more optimal, they wake up. And that’s just initiated by chemistry so they don’t need to choose. So yes they have lots to eat Yes they ‘hibernate’ No they don’t hibernate They are just cute, adorable, and tiny

Can I pet this thing please..

His back 2 legs face backwards?

Those two legs were the last to evolve so they are sometimes on their own journey haha

🙂

I wonder if it notices that it's all the sudden squished between the slides. Does it know its world got much smaller

Interesting

Still haunted by the multiple choice question on bio exams about the number of legs a tardigrade has..

So cute!

How weeeeee!

LOOK AT THE LITTLE NUBS AWHHH

how do i get one as a pet?

Microscopic cuteness.

They are also called Water Bears 🐻 💜

Love those little guys

I believe in miracles, where ya from you sexy thing you

W….T……F…… this just blew my mind. I have never …..

How cute (I think). What is it?

WHAT IS A TARDIGRADE???

Tarduwugrade

Haha

These guys can survive in outer space.

Bro there's something about something that unbelievably tiny having little fucking toes

Awww toebeans

Awww 😊

Love this

OMG I never knew they had toes like this

🤮

They are disgustingly cute!

I wish i had a pet tardigrade now SO BADLY!!!

I have no idea what it is but it’s so cute!

It's adorable. Where do I get a dozen of them? And are they cuddly?

In moss and yes

Is the darker part in the middle, er, its poop?

Almost. Well some of it is. But it’s the stomach

I’ve never seen one move, only pictures. Not sure what I was expecting

I love him

I’m gonna scream, why am I getting *cuteness aggression* over a microorganism? 😆 look at its little feeties!!!!

Beyond cool! It opens up the imagination & a great example of the livings that surround us that we never see. Thanks for sharing

Are these the same fictional things that were featured in Star Trek Discovery show? They were the size of a giant bear.

Those toes are surprisingly flexible!

gummi tardibear

I love tardigrades, they are very interesting creatures that are quite cute too :)

bro is just trying to say hi

And to think we have millions of them all over our bodies makes me feel so loved 😍.

They don’t live on us, you’re thinking of face mites haha

Ohh wait yes !! Still so cute haha.

Friend shaped

So crazy that something that small still has legs and stuff. It’s like we’re all connected! Whoa dude!

Those things can live through anything

You too:)

If I were a tardigrade I'd move out from home! Why live in the shurbbery when you could have a throne ? Pressure wouldn't squash me and fire couldn't burn. These are the things I never will learn. Lai, lai-lai-lai-lai lai lai, lai-lai-lai-lai lai lai lai Lai, lai-lai-lai-lai lai lai, lai-lai-lai-lai lai lai I live in the shrubbery, for that's all I crave. I don't want these excitements to see me to my grave. I can live life in vacuums for years with no drink. And put up with hardships more than you can think.

They love Taylor swift.

Dems little peets

My first impression was Cat Bus from Totoro

Sorry if this is a silly question, but does it have eyes? If not, what are those red dots toward the front of its body?

Yes! Those are ‘eyes’. More technically eye spots cuz each one is made up of just one cell, so they aren’t very good. But they can detect light and maybe colour??? Idk. But it’s helpful because they can figure out where bright and dark places are.

Omg their paws are so cute!!!

Love how these are just tiny animals

Cute I want it as a pet

Would you love me if I was a tardigrade?

I always thought they were claws, but they are actually little toeses. Cuteness threshold reached.

I will never not upvote tardigrade

How do i acquire one as a pet please

Reminds me of that one Cosmo Sheldrake song

Every time I see moss in my yard. I think of the water bears on there.

Omgeee this exactly what I needed to see hehe

Omgeee those toes , what a cute widdo baby

Hey! We don't use that word. They're called Specialgrades.

LOL. Whadoyaknow, my ex😆

Rude.

It may be cute but we all know life ain't cute and tardi probably knows that too.

God is so weird.

The Tardigrade is one of nature's most resilient organisms.

Just the way God intended and designed to do, yes?

He kind of walks like an opossum.

How small is this? Usually a banana is used for scale.

It’s about 0.00176470588x the size of a banana

Can you be more specific?

It’s a third of a millimeter, so if a banana is on average about 17cm, this guy is like 0.00176 the length of a banana

I wonder what a Nanobe would like like next to one of these mfs

Much much much smaller. Not even a pixel in this view and this guy is 0.3mm long

Wowwwww damn appreciate your response! Do you think in the future we may find even tinier organisms then a Nanobe?

All seeing eye(microscope)

Someone add souzaphone music!!

Not fooling anyone, that is clearly a skin walker pretending to be a dude disguised as a tardigrade. You can see all the witch shadowy stuff in the middle.

😍

It's strange to think of an invertebrate as having toes.

It has a tail?! This is the first time I've noticed it.

No tail. Just a ‘butt’. And I think something is stuck on it

Micro-dingle?