(energetic music)
- This is likely some of the rarest footage
we have ever captured.
This is a baby water bear being born into the world,
hatching out right before our very eyes.
(cat growls)
(lion roars)
The natural springs of Florida
are no stranger to the Brave Wilderness team.
In fact, if you're thinking this one looks familiar,
you're absolutely right.
This is the same spring we dove to reach its source
for collection samples of the alien like micro-animal
known as the tardigrade,
or more endearingly, the water bear.
We've brought you back to the spring
to unveil a rare discovery
that occurred from a sample taken on this very day.
But first, it's important to understand
why the conditions were just right,
and how far we had to go
to find the perfect sample containing a micro miracle
unlike anything you've ever seen before.
So Hunter, we're checking something out about the water,
what is this?
- Yeah, Mark, we're gonna deploy this probe into the water
and find out some of the different metadata.
So how cold it is, temperature, pH,
all that kind of stuff.
- Okay, so when we are examining
some of these animals back at the lab,
this information will actually be critical
for the documentation of wherever they were found
and where they're going, all that kind of stuff.
- Exactly, right, yeah.
- Okay, cool.
- So I'll let you do the honors.
Here you go, drop it in.
- All right, I guess I'm going
to put the probe into the water here.
- [Hunter] You can see the temperature, 23 degrees.
The pH is seven.
Freshwater, low oxygen, really low oxygen dropping.
- Today we're gonna find out
whether or not these animals are indeed immortal,
'cause there's some rumors out there.
There's some rumors that they might be immortal
and can live forever,
and they might actually be aliens from outer space.
The conditions of this spring proved to be adequate
for the collection of potentially breeding water bear.
Dr. Hunter Hines and I ventured
into this manatee sanctuary
to search for the tardigrade
that live in its microbial mats.
I'm guessing by the number of collection tubes
we have here in this bag,
we have to take all these samples,
'cause you really never know what you get
until you're in the lab under the microscope.
This is the shallow portion of the spring.
There's actually a deeper portion in the back
where we're gonna have to do some free diving.
- We'll do it, yeah.
- Okay, that's the boil.
- That's the boil where all the water comes from.
Yeah, could be a current down there too, so.
- Ooh, fun.
That's right, to find the perfect samples,
I had to free dive against strong currents,
into the depths of the boil,
to collect what we hope would be an abundance
of active water bear.
That's a sample from the boil.
That's the one.
That's gonna be the big water bears in that one.
There they are, the samples.
Maybe immortal creatures, maybe aliens,
let's find out.
This journey, ultimately led us back
to the Harbor Branch Lab
where we were able to get our samples under the microscope
and finally see the results of our hard work.
Wow, oh my goodness.
Look, you can definitely see the claws.
- [Hunter] Yeah, you're in trouble with these today.
I mean, they're all over you.
- Okay, so tell me about crypto-biosis.
- Yes, the cryptobiosis.
This animal can basically shut down its entire metabolism,
so it goes to an almost deathlike state.
Nothing is functioning,
nothing's happening, it's not moving,
and it can stay in the state for a very long time.
Importantly, though, it can turn this off
and come back to life if you will.
- [Mark] And how many years can it do this?
- [Hunter] At least 20.
- 20 years. - Maybe more.
- [Mark] So it can be dead, almost,
but not die?
That's what I'm hearing folks.
And even made a rare discovery of a tardigrade
that was carrying eggs.
Is that eggs on its back?
- Yeah, very good, very good.
- [Mark] Nice.
- [Hunter] So here we have a mama tardigrade.
- [Mark] That's my bear.
That is amazing.
- [Hunter] How do you feel?
- I feel really accomplished.
It is not an easy process at all.
But what we could have never expected,
was the discovery made the following morning.
One that Dr. Hunter himself had never seen
or known to have been documented before.
All right, so you know how we saw a tardigrade with eggs?
Well, we came back this morning,
and we have a tardigrade with babies.
Eggs are hatching, check this out.
That's a baby water bear.
What do you think, Hunter, how old is that bear?
- [Hunter] About two minutes old.
- Two minutes old?
To your knowledge,
this is the first time
this has ever been captured on video?
- By me, absolutely.
I've never seen it before.
- Wow.
- Yeah, it's very unusual.
Amazing timing.
- Very cool, check this out too.
Come back around.
You can see there's other eggs
actually hatching right now.
- [Hunter] So this one is almost ready to go.
This guy's still an egg.
This one's thinking about it.
So they hatch at different times,
which obviously helps their survival
depending on what the environmental conditions are.
The mama bear is just hanging out.
- [Mark] Wow.
- [Hunter] So you can see she is full of
all this anti bacteria that she's been eating,
this stuff here,
but the baby tardigrade is super clear
and looking for food.
He's probably really hungry.
- [Mark] You may be asking yourself
what exactly does a baby water bear eat?
Well, take a look at this.
What is this?
- [Hunter] Cyanobacteria.
- Cyanobacteria, okay.
It kind of looks like sprouts,
something you might wanna put on your salad.
- They'll create these clumps.
This is microbial mats we sampled last time.
That's what the tardigrades eat.
It's photosynthetic bacteria.
- So that's the bacteria right there,
these long strands, okay.
- [Hunter] These are some of the oldest organisms
on the planet, actually.
- [Mark] Really?
- This is really cool.
They're the first ones
to kind of oxygenate the earth,
moving the byproducts and filtering.
So without these things,
there might not have been oxygen on the planet,
so it really influenced the revolution took place.
- Wow, I didn't know that.
- And even today they provide a lot of oxygen for us,
maybe like a third of the planet's oxygen
comes from this anti bacteria.
- There's one third of that breath you just took
that's comprised of oxygen made from this bacteria.
I think that's pretty cool.
It's truly amazing how the smallest organisms
that exist on our planet
can be responsible for our very own existence.
Even on a micro level, life continues to thrive
thanks to organisms like the cyanobacteria.
What you are witnessing here
is literally the birth or hatching of a water bear.
And as you can imagine,
if finding one with eggs is rare,
the footage you're witnessing is beyond rare.
In fact, almost impossible.
This is likely some of the rarest footage
we have ever captured.
This is a baby water bear being born into the world
hatching out right before our very eyes.
- [Hunter] Wanna see how big it looks?
So we can take a picture
and then measure it.
It may be 150 microns on.
- [Mark] How large is that in relative terms?
- [Hunter] A human hair is maybe 40 microns.
- [Mark] Okay.
- [Hunter] You could fit 10 of these guys
in between the two lines on the ruler,
they're one millimeter.
So very smallest point on the ruler
can fit 10 of these guys head to tail.
- [Mark] Wow.
Water bear mothers
are also known to display parental characteristics.
The exuvium, which is the outer layer of the tardigrade skin
is shed and then filled with eggs,
and will stay attached to the mother
to remain under her care until the eggs hatch.
An unusual behavior for a microorganism,
and a trait that makes them fit even more
into the category of micro-animal.
And in case you're wondering,
a micro animal is exactly what it sounds like.
Simply put, an animal so small
that it requires a microscope to be observed.
And not all microorganisms
are micro-animals like the tardigrade,
but what an incredible discovery we have here today.
Not only were we fortunate enough
to find a tardigrade with eggs,
but we also got to witness,
and possibly film for the first time ever,
the hatching of a water bear.
This just goes to show you
that life will always find a way,
no matter how big or how small.
A special thanks to Doctor Hunter Heinz
for joining us again.
And you can find out more about his work
on his Instagram account at microbialecology.
And if you're eager to learn more
about what Doctor Hunter is up to in his lab,
make sure to check out our members only videos
to find out what other microorganisms
he has lurking under the microscope.
And don't forget,
subscribe and hit that notification bell
so you don't miss a second of the action ahead.
I'm Mark Vins, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
(wolf howls)