I have been thinking about animals in space. It interests me. I have wondered about what an animal would need to survive in space. I decided to do my wonder project on this question. What adaptations would an animal need in space?
Simpler organisms seem to do a lot better in space then others. Complex being, like humans, apes and dogs, can live in space for a short amount of time before their lungs expand, their blood releases and their saliva begins to boil.(2) The I decided to dig a little into saliva, but I got nothing.(3)
Smaller and more simple organisms, like water bears and fish, tend to do better in space, with the former being able to survive in space for 10 minutes. Water bears need to have a light coating of water around them indoor in function, but they can turn off this need by entering a state known as cryptobiosis. In cryptobiosis water bears can withstand below freezing temperatures. Water bears are resistant to, or unaffected by, the suns ultraviolet rays, I think it is because of their size. (4) Fish have been sent up into space and been able to correct there swimming to zero gravity. (1)
I wanted to research this question because of how big it was. Know I wonder what a space ecosystem would look like. My conclusion to the questions is that animals would have to be super small unorder to functional in space.(4)
1: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/F_Animals_in_Space_9-12.html
2: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-animal-that-can-survive-in-space/
3: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20428009
4: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775
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