Extreme Survivors: Animals That Time Forgot

This book is about extreme survivors, or organisms that have lived on Earth for many millions of years without changing. For example, the tuatara lives in New Zealand, is nocturnal, and is the closest living cousin of dinosaurs. One of the really amazing things about the tuatara is that its heart beats only seven times in one minute, and they can live up to 150 years!

A tadpole shrimp can live in an animal’s stomach after it has been eaten. Even if it has been preyed on, it can still survive!

Tardigrades are my favorite. When water is scarce, they turn into glass! Once they are around water again, they turn back into little creatures. They can survive in boiling hot water or in ice-cold situations. They live in moss and other wet areas all around the world. Scientists even took tardigrades into space, and they survived!

It is amazing how these creatures have survived all these millions of years. The book does a great job of explaining about the creatures. It has so much information, I will read it again. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

The photos of the organisms are interesting. For microscopic organisms, SEM photos are included.