Tardigrades (water bears) can lose over 97-99% of their body water content and enter a dormant 'tun' state, surviving in this desiccated form for years to decades before fully reviving upon rehydration — the most extreme desiccation tolerance documented in the animal kingdom, alongside extreme tolerance of vacuum, radiation, and temperature extremes.
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Tardigrades (water bears) can lose over 97-99% of their body water content and enter a dormant 'tun' state, surviving in this desiccated form for years to decades before fully reviving upon rehydration — the most extreme desiccation tolerance documented in the animal kingdom, alongside extreme tolerance of vacuum, radiation, and temperature extremes.
The highest percentage of total body water content an animal has been shown to lose and later fully recover from via anhydrobiosis (cryptobiotic dormancy), as documented in tardigrade physiology research.
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Limits Registry. LR-MOST-EXTREME-DESICCATION-TOLERANCE-ANIMAL. Most extreme desiccation (water loss) tolerance in an animal. 2026.