Tardigrades (also called moss piglets or water bears) grow up to 0.5 mm long, meaning my painting is about 650 times larger than life.

They might just be my favourite animal. They can be found in pretty much every habitat on Earth; including mountain tops, volcanos, the Antarctic and the deep sea. They’re also not bothered by the vacuum of space. No biggie, don’t even worry about it.

A couple of years ago some tardigrades were left behind on the Moon, which they probably wouldn’t have minded, except that it was later discovered that the little buddies wouldn’t have survived the crash landing (they worked this out by shooting tiny guns at tardigrades at increasing speeds until they turned to mush). They can live through extreme temperatures, pressure, air deprivation, radiation, dehydration and starvation. So chill, they just waddle around looking for snacks.

Supposedly a team of physicists recently pushed these limits even further by putting tardigrades in a state of quantum entanglement (a state where two particles, despite being physically separated by a great distance, are connected in such a way that any actions performed on one also affects the other… it’s kinda like how if you punch a twin, the other twin on the opposite side of the world will say “ow stop it”). The jury is still out on the validity of the study, but how cool would that be.

In summary, tardigrades are the best and I hope to become one when I grow up. I hope we all carry the resilient spirit of the tardigrade with us through life.