Record breaker (Image: SPL)

Read more: Extreme survival: The toughest life forms on Earth

What shrugs off lethal gamma rays, temperatures close to absolute zero, the vacuum of space, unearthly pressure and 120 years without water?

Tardigrades, or water bears, are tiny invertebrates that are found pretty much everywhere, from freshwater to marine habitats, and from the lichens in your garden to the top of the highest mountains. They are among the world’s hardiest creatures, thanks to their ability to curl up, switch off their metabolism and wait for conditions to improve. In fact, tardigrades hold the record for surviving several kinds of extreme environment, although it is debatable whether they should really count as they only set them when in their so-called “tun” state of extreme hibernation.

Tardigrades have survived: