Surivival Quiz

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Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
I quite liked the idea of Jacks 'answers on a postcard' quiz in the woodland chatter area so I thought I’d do one here


The first question is:

What member of the animal kingdom is the most able to survive extremes of environment?

By this I mean able to tolerate the widest extremes of temperature, Chemicals, Radiation, Pressure and humidity.

I'll let you know as soon as someone gets the right answer and if it goes on too long I will start to give clues until someone gets it.
:-D

I hope this isnt too easy
 

Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
6,446
1,284
Aylesbury
stewartjlight-knives.com
A wee bug called a "Wooly Bear" at least I think thats what its called.

What? One of these?
00003951.jpg


Sounds like they may be weather indicators too!
Some peopel believe that the Wooly bear caterpillar can tell if the winter is going to be mild or rough. If the stripe on the wooly bear is narrow it means the winter is going to be mild. if the stripe on the caterpillar is wide it means the winter is going to be rough.
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
Gotta be an insect ... wish I'd paid more attention in biology now!
 
P

Pathos

Guest
either cockroaches or spiders. Roaches are meant to be tough and spiders get everywhere. Read somewhere that spiders can go without food or water for stupidly long times. Good question though, maybe the next step in bushcraft after knive and axe mastering is being cloned into a human spider cockroach thingy? :lol:

Paul
 

Hoodoo

Full Member
Nov 17, 2003
5,302
13
Michigan, USA
I'll put my money on the tardigrades. Commonly called water bears. During cryptobiosis they can survive just about anything.
 

Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
I'll put my money on the tardigrades. Commonly called water bears. During cryptobiosis they can survive just about anything.

well done Hoodoo

Wow That was quick :shock: obivously too easy, I come up with another question for tommorrow :-D

I'll put a post up tonight Explaining just how tough water bears are!
 

Keith_Beef

Native
Sep 9, 2003
1,366
268
55
Yvelines, north-west of Paris, France.

Hoodoo

Full Member
Nov 17, 2003
5,302
13
Michigan, USA
Stew said:
Hoodoo,

Aren't bugs your specialist area? :-D

Not exactly. :wink: I work with insects but did my graduate work using voles. But I've been teaching invertebrate zoology for 7 years and organismal biology for 14 years. :-D

Tardigrades aren't bugs. "Bugs" are in the phylum arthropoda. Water bears have their own phylum, tardigrada. They do have some arthropod traits but they lack a biggie: jointed appendages. All arthropods have jointed appendages but the tardigrades do not.
 

Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
6,446
1,284
Aylesbury
stewartjlight-knives.com
Hoodoo said:
Not exactly. :wink: I work with insects but did my graduate work using voles. But I've been teaching invertebrate zoology for 7 years and organismal biology for 14 years. :-D

Tardigrades aren't bugs. "Bugs" are in the phylum arthropoda. Water bears have their own phylum, tardigrada. They do have some arthropod traits but they lack a biggie: jointed appendages. All arthropods have jointed appendages but the tardigrades do not.

So many big words. :-? I'll let you off! :)

steve a said:
Scorpian's. You can freeze them, bake them, and they still get up and walk away. Amazing animal !!!

So do you think this fella might still be alive? :twisted:

p618ex1.jpg
 

Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
Comgratulations to Hoodoo for getting this right!

Ok Why are water bears the best survivors of etreames of enviroment?

When times get tough the water bear (tardigrade) curls up, draws in its legs and its metabolism almost stops. This resting stage is know as a Tun, and it is almost indestructable!

It can survive temperatures as low as -272 degrees C which is only one degree above absolute zero (the coldest possible temperature) and as High as 151 degrees C

with regards to pressure it can survive 6000 atmospheres (almost all other organisms including bacteria are killed at 3000) but it can aslo survive the vacum of space and a lack of oxygen (it is capable of surviving outside the earths atmosphere in space)

it can survive pressures 6 times higher than the deepest ocean on earth

it can survive an exposer to radiation of 570,000 Roentgens (only 500 Roentgens would be fatal to a human).

It is capable of surviving the loss of 99% of its water content and even being immersed in pure alcohol

water bears have been revived from this state from samples of dried-out moss after being stored for 120 years

Water bears live in almost every part of the world (including the antarctic and even your garden, or if you dont have a garden they live in your gutters!)
Water bears have been found in oceans 6000 m below the surface and
on mountains 6000 m high and under 6m of solid ice

tar_Heterotardigrade-Echiniscus-Lateral-Body.jpg



I'll start work on the next question :-D
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
That's one tough sucka! Aren't we lucky it ain't bad for us (I'm hoping it isn't! :shock: )!
 

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