Saturday, 14 April 2012

Bears on The Roof

Our new house has lots and lots of moss growing on the roof like so....


And where there's moss there's usually bears...Water Bears.
I picked up a few clumps that had been dislodged and dropped to the ground by birds, soaked them in rainwater for a few minutes and then squeezed out the bears .... like you do!


 A Water Bear. 
These fascinating microscopic creatures have featured on my blog a couple of times before. They are virtually indestructible and are the only animal known to be able to survive in the vacuum of space!
 I wondered how they managed to get onto rooftops but apparently in their dessicated form (known as a tun) they are as small and light as a particle of dust and can get blown by the wind for thousands of miles!


Photos never show them as well as video, so here's one I prepared earlier. Turn the sound down unless you want to listen to the spin cycle of my washing machine!

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