The earth has many living beings, which are really everywhere. The bear animal can be found all over the world: in extremely hot springs and in extremely cold environments. And in space. Which other animals live in the most bizarre places on earth:
Living things are found all over the world. Even in the most extreme places and under the most extreme conditions. From boiling hot to ice cold. It is often the small animals that manage to survive this. And it may also say something about the origin of life on earth.
Boiling hot
In the boiling hot springs in it Yellowstone park many bacteria occur. In the so-called hot springs there is a rapid circulation of the water. Because the water circulates so quickly, no pressure is built up and the water does not spray upwards. The temperature in hot springs is very different: it is cooler at the edge than in the middle, where it is boiling hot. But even at the edge, where it is cooler than in the middle, the temperature is still high: up to 100 degrees Celsius. Bacteria live in these areas, which have completely adapted to the hot water. They give off a yellowish color to the water. They live in water with a temperature between 50 and 90 degrees. Depending on the temperature, the bacteria always give off a different color. The bacteria live on the sulfur that oxidizes there. The hot springs where these bacteria live are very poisonous. These bacteria were probably already living on earth when it was too hot for other living things.
ice and ice cold
The bears, invertebrates only 0.1 to 1.5 mm long, can withstand temperatures of -272 degrees, which is only 1 degree above absolute zero. After thawing, these animals just continue to live as if nothing had happened. Bears survive by shriveling in extreme cold, but also in drought or heat. In 2007, a number of bear animals were shot into space, where they managed to survive for ten days from the rigors of cold, near-vacuum, no oxygen and radiation. Only the UV radiation damaged the DNA of the bear animals. This is because the UV radiation outside the earth is ten times higher than on earth. Back on earth, the bear animals were brought to life with a drop of water. After half an hour, 68 percent of the bears were alive again and began to multiply. The idea that life on earth may have originated through space comes closer.
Neutron radiation and chemical compounds
Certain organisms survived the neutron radiation in experiments, the bear animals also survived in carbonic acid, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen sulphide and other compounds in experiments. They seemed to die but after being given water they suddenly lived again. The bear owes its name to its appearance: its snout resembles a bear’s snout and its eight legs resemble bear claws. The bear animals that were sent to space, as described above, were in a kind of cage, without the protection of a spacecraft.
Bottom of the deepest sea
Fish and lobsters live at the bottom of the deepest sea or ocean. They’re just used to the pressure there, so if you pulled them up, they’d explode. With a depth of almost 11 kilometers, the Mariana Trench the deepest sea in the world. The pressure there is 1000 times higher than on the surface. Shrimps have been found living there at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. But fish such as plaice and flounder were also found. This during an investigation in 1960, where the submarine Trieste landed on the seabed.
Higher than high
Birds have been observed at an altitude of 9000 meters. Bacteria and fungi also seem to live there well. At an altitude of 8000 meters there is a dead point: it is no longer healthy for people to climb even higher. The oxygen content is only 33 percent of normal there, and the cold is getting worse. The temperature can drop to -40 degrees Celsius. The earth has fourteen mountains that are higher than 8000 meters, all of which are located in the Himalayas. Although humans do manage to get that high, birds adapt more easily and can therefore continue to live at great heights.