Meet this micro animal can outlive the sun

The Tardigrade - an eight-legged micro-animal - has been named the world's most indestructible species, after scientists discovered that the creature will survive until the sun dies.   

Researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK found that the Tardigrade will survive the risk of extinction from all astrophysical catastrophes, and be around for at least 10 billion years - far longer than the human race.     

Although much attention has been given to the cataclysmic impact that an astrophysical event would have on human life, very little has been published around what it would take to kill the tardigrade, and wipe out life on this planet.

    Tardigrades emerged as the toughest, most resilient form of life on Earth by proving they can survive for 30 years without food or water and live at temperatures of 150°C.

Although when they do eat they like to tuck in to plants and bacteria – some species are cannibals, however.

They are equally happy in the deep sea and the frozen vacuum of space.

Professor Abraham Loeb, co-author and chair of the Astronomy department at Harvard University, suggested the Tardigrade’s hardiness could demonstrate that some creatures could survive on other planets.

“The history of Mars indicates that it once had an atmosphere that could have supported life, albeit under extreme conditions,” he said.