Under the Microscope
From the pond...
To the lab...
Under the microscope...
Hydras somersault
Diatoms drift
Euglenas twist and turn
Under the microscope...
Planerias glide
Amoebas crawl
Copepods swim
Under the microscope...
Tardigrades stroll
Paramecia spiral
Cyanobacteria stay still... Under the microscope.
Microbes Are Everywhere!
Hydras look like plants, tardigrades walk like tiny bears and amoebas are shapeshifters. But what they have in common is that they鈥檙e all microbes, tiny creatures that live all around us. From deep under the earth to far up in the sky, microbes are everywhere. They live in the freezing cold and in the bubbling heat. They live in food, waste, rocks, trees, soil, and even you and me. So how many microbes live around us? A drop of water from a pond will have hundreds and hundreds of these tiny creatures! But to look at them, we鈥檒l need to use a microscope. A microscope is a device used to enlarge very small things that can鈥檛 be seen with the naked eye.
Let鈥檚 take a closer look!
Hydras can grow back their lost body parts and almost never die of old age.
If you cut a planaria into two, each piece will develop into an individual planaria.
Euglenas, like plants, can make their own food through photosynthesis.
Diatoms produce 25 to 40 percent of the air we breathe.
Amoebas can change their shapes. Sometimes, they do this to trap food.
A single copepod can eat thousands of diatoms in just 24 hours.
Tardigrades can survive in the most extreme conditions, like inside a volcano or in outer space.
Paramecia swim really fast and can cover a distance of four times their length in a second.
Cyanobacteria have been around for a very long time and have been found in fossils that are over a billion years old.