Monday, October 27, 2025

Birth of a Tardigrade


YouTube description by the maker of this video:

This is perhaps my most prized footage. A waterbear (tardigrade) hatches from an egg! The process starts with the mother waterbear growing its eggs inside — once they are fully grown, the female waterbear will shed its skin and lay the eggs inside the skin at the same time. Once the developing waterbears are large enough, they hatch. This footage was very difficult to obtain and really is a once-in-a-lifetimes thing to witness. The process happens pretty quickly — over about 15 minutes. I'm not really sure how long waterbears will stay in their eggs before hatching, so this was extremely fortunate timing.

More here.

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