Tardigrades - Apocalypses Survivor

Tardigrades, the wonder species. Also called water bears. Most likely to survive an apocalypse. Or for that matter, many apocalypses. Why?

They are small, water-dwelling, segmented animals with eight legs, and can survive any and all of the following: 1. Extreme pressure: Pressures greater than any found in the deepest ocean trenches and have lived through the vacuum of outer space 2. Radiation: Solar radiation, gamma radiation, ionic radiation—hundreds of times higher doses than would kill a person 3 Outer Space: Known to survive the vacuum of space 4. Extreme temperatures: From just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water 5. Dehydration: They can go without food or water for nearly 10 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce, entering cryptobiosis (extreme hibernation) and reducing their metabolism to less than 0.01% of normal; they only take a short while to return to normal with the reintroduction of water. In order to survive during cryptobiosis, the tardigrade enters a state called a ‘tun’. This happens very quickly and makes them practically indestructible.