Tardigrades otherwise known as ‘Water Bears’ or ‘Moss Piglets’ are said to have foreign DNA that makes them incredibly unique. Basically, they are microscopic creatures that are found living in water across the world and are renowned for being tough and have previously survived several days after being blasted into space. Yup, space.

In 1983, a few of these 1mm long creatures were collected from a frozen moss sample in Antarctica and were kept frozen until early 2014.

Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research stored the 8 legged, segmented critters at -20C for over 30 years and thawed two of the animals. Unfortunately, one died just 20 days into the experiment, but its companion survived and went on to reproduce a small bout of 19 eggs of which 14 survived.

When faced with low temperatures, their metabolism shuts down and they enter “a cryptobiotic state”. The previous record for the moss piglets surviving in extreme cold was eight years. The next step? To see what repairs the little creatures can do when their DNA is damaged. Isn’t that animal abuse?

[source: huffingtonpost]