Little Water Bear vs. Dancing Gummy Bear

Close up of a Water Bear

"Strange is this little animal, because of its exceptional and strange morphology and because it closely resembles a bear en miniature. That is the reason why I decided to call it little water bear."

J.A.E. Goeze (Pastor at St. Blasii, Quedlinburg, Germany), 1773

Photo by Eny Yusnizar

"The original dancing bear was taller and thinner than the chubby little bear of today, but became immediately popular among the children of Bonn."

Paul a. Schons, The Millionaire and His Candy 2003





History, It's All In the Name

• 1773 Johann August Ephraim Goeze discovered and coined the term  kleiner Wasserbär meaning "little water bear."
• 1777 Lazzaro Spallanzani named it Tardigrada meaning "slow stepper."
• 1922 Hans Reigal created the gummi bear, also known as Tanzbär meaning "dancing bear."

Water Bears

• They have eight legs!
• Live everywhere:
• In the high canopy of trees, living in moss and lichen
• Tallest mountain tops
• Deepest parts of the ocean
• Have been launched into space and survived.
• Can survive extreme conditions such as:
• temperatures as low as -200 °C (-328 °F) and as high as 151 °C (304 °F)
• high pressure (up to 6x the pressure of the deepest part of the ocean)
• lack of oxygen
• levels of X-ray radiation 1000x the lethal human dose
• lack of water
• Do not have a respiratory or circulatory system.
• In their own Animalia phylum, Tardigrada.
• Survive extreme conditions through cryptobiosis also known as a tun.
• Biggest adults reach a body length of 1.5 millimeters.
• Claws at the end of each leg. 

Gummy Bears

• They only have four legs but just maybe someday they'll have eight.
• Also can be found everywhere there's a sweet tooth such as:
• taking a bag of gummies with me while tree climbing
• yummy summit gummy bear treat to celebrate
• I'm sure somewhere there is a lonely gummy bear laying at the bottom of the ocean.
• It is possible an astronaut has packed these yummy companions on their journey.

Photo by  Jera Sky

• Can survive extreme conditions such as:
• lack of water, oxygen, high pressure, and freezing temperatures.

• Did not survive Johanne's "obliteration" aka "torture" methods. It took approximately one minute in -196 °C or 385 °F  to shatter an unknown, yellow gummy bear.
• It takes approximately 5 minutes in a microwave to melt a gummy bear. 
• Highest predation by human consumption.
• Also do not have a respiratory or circulatory system.
• Are related to another famous candy, gummy worms.
• Often averaging the size of a quarter, the largest gummy bear is a whopping five pounds! 

Ya Ya Chou

So what do you think?