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Water bear

Macrobiotus species

A plump, see-through animal with eight stubby legs, also called a moss piglet or a tardigrade. You really need a microscope for this one.

Real size
About half a millimetre long
Where
In the film of water on damp moss and lichen

My spotter's list

Here it is following your pointer, drawn many times bigger than life. Find it at real size with the magnifying glass in the Tiny World.

Good to know

Three things about the water bear

Water bears are among the toughest animals known. Dried out, they can survive freezing, boiling and even the vacuum of space.

When its moss dries up, a water bear curls into a tiny barrel called a tun, and wakes up when the water returns.

It walks on eight stumpy legs with claws, plodding along like a tiny bear. That is why people call it a water bear or a moss piglet.

The real thing

Photos of the water bear

Water bear, photo 1
Photo: Philippe Garcelon, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Water bear, photo 2
Photo: Philippe Garcelon, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Water bear, photo 3
Photo: Thomas Shahan, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Out and about

How to spot one

Soak a small clump of moss in a dish of rainwater overnight, squeeze the water out, and look at a drop under a microscope at about 40 times.

Lend a hand

How to help

They need no help at all, but leaving moss on walls, roofs and paving gives them, and many other tiny animals, a home.

Keep going

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