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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