Despite its extremely small size, this creature has enough strength to defeat all other competitors on earth to receive the title of the toughest living animal on earth.
Artemia shrimp, also known as sea monkeys, are very resilient creatures, their lifespan can last more than 10,000 years.
While dredging the Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, an egg cyst of this shrimp was found beneath the salt layer at the bottom of the lake. This follicle has not yet hatched.
After bringing it back for research and scanning it with radioactive carbon rays, scientists discovered that it is more than 10,000 years old. This species of shrimp specializes in living in salt water areas.
This species of shrimp specializes in living in salt water areas.
Called Artemia shrimp, these animals are not really shrimp, but they are crustaceans. The size of an Artemia shrimp is only about 15mm. Their favorite habitat is in puddles or saltwater lakes.
Artemia shrimp, when exposed to direct ultraviolet light or boiled at 105 degrees Celsius or at temperatures close to 0, still lives.
For example, take them to dry, dry them on fire, immerse them in alcohol, in a vacuum environment and under pressure at a depth of 6,000 meters below the seabed or even take them out into space, they will still live as usual.
Furthermore, when Artemia shrimp are exposed to direct ultraviolet light or boiled at 105 degrees Celsius or at temperatures close to 0, they still exist. If normal creatures fall into such tests, they will certainly have no chance of survival.
People have also experimented by putting Artemia shrimp in pesticides or dipping them in pH solutions with such high acidity that they can disintegrate human flesh, but they still exist.
The secret of “sea monkeys” is that they can survive with very little water in their bodies. For a normal body, water plays an extremely important role, maintaining and regulating body temperature, helping to nourish cells and important parts such as protein molecules, sugars and chromosomes. .
Artemia shrimp has gone through a long process to have the excellent survival ability it has today.
In addition, Artemia shrimp also “drys” itself by the body, helping to avoid health risks due to the amount of water inside, and at the same time they have the ability to self-repair damaged protein structures.
In terms of evolution, Artemia shrimp has gone through a long process to have the excellent survival ability it has today. They have reached an extraordinary limit of endurance where no enemy can touch them.
The ability to self-dry, turn cells into solid sugar blocks or survive in harsh water-deficient environments has enabled Artemia shrimp to live for tens of thousands of years, a remarkable number.