Full Moon

Full Moon

    The full moon is one of my favorite things in the night sky. What is your favorite part of the night sky? The stars, constellations, clouds, bats, or just the darkness? ~Ella

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Food for Waterbears

Food for Waterbears

Some waterbears are carnivores, they eat rotifers, nematodes, protozoa, etc. and some waterbears are herbivores, they eat parts of the moss plant or algae.  These are close up pictures of the tardigrade mouth.  You can see the mouth, the buccal tube, the stylet supports, the pharynx and

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Most Extreme Survivor

Most Extreme Survivor

When a waterbear is in an unfavorable environment it can go into cryptobiosis.  This is basically dying and then when conditions return to normal they come back to life.  To do this they expel all the water from their bodies, pull in all their appendages, and bring

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Parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis

  Parthenogenesis is the ability of the female in a species to reproduce without the male to fertilize the eggs.   Tardigrades have both kinds of populations around the globe, the all female and the male/female.  Parthenogenesis allows for the lone tardigrade female to populate a new

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Tardigrade Teeth

Tardigrade Teeth

Waterbears don’t actually have teeth the grinding parts of their mouth are called placoids.  They are the small dark spots that look like stones in a circle.  The pharynx around the placoids expands and contracts in order to chew the food.  The Y shaped structure at the

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