The 5 most impressive survival abilities of earths animals

Humans aren’t the most delicate creatures, being able to survive in all kinds of conditions or heal from accidents, but when compared to some of the other things that live on this planet, we are quite feeble. Here are five of earths creatures that possess survival abilities so incredible, they make humans look pathetic by comparison.

1) Axolotl

This funny looking newt-type creature has one of the most impressive survival abilities in the entire animal world. Classed as an amphibian, the Mexican walking fish, as it’s often known, has the ability to regenerate severed limbs and damaged organs. There are many creatures on the planet that have regenerative capabilities, but none of them come close to the level of repair that an axolotl can do to its own body. If an arm is severed, it will regrow the entire thing complete with all the bones, movable joints, muscle and skin tissue, not to mention it can regrow parts of its internal organs if they become damaged. The axolotl is the only creature on earth that is able to regrow such intricate parts of its body back to a fully regenerated state.

2) Tardigrade (water bears)

Known as the toughest living thing on earth, these tiny creatures only grow to a maximum length of 0.5 mm and have four pairs of legs that end in claws. They are too small to be a threat to humans, but the reason they are classed as the toughest creature is because they can survive conditions that would kill anything else on earth. A good example would be their tolerance to temperature, which allows them to survive being boiled in water for several minutes or being left frozen in a block of ice for several days. They can also withstand levels of radiation that would quickly kill a human, and they can even survive for several minutes in a vacuum, making them one of the few creatures to not instantly die if they were floating around in space.

3) The Immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii)

These tiny jellyfish live in oceans around the world in mostly temperate and tropical conditions. They only grow to about 4.5 mm wide and no more than three times as long. They have come to be known as the immortal jellyfish because they are the only living thing on earth that has the ability to reset its body back to an earlier stage in its development. This technically makes the creature biologically immortal because it can’t die from old age, though it can still be killed by physical damage and disease. It would be the equivalent of an 80-year-old human growing younger until they hit 20, then ageing normally again, but the jellyfish can do this as many times as it wants, which means it’ll only die of old age if it chooses to.

4) Sea Cucumber

This squishy looking sea caterpillar type thing has a unique and disturbing survival ability. It can make its entire body so soft that it almost turns into a liquid, something it uses to get inside tiny cracks in rocks and hide in places to small for its predators to reach. Also, the sea cucumber can excrete some of its internal organs if they become damaged and has the ability to regrow them as normal. It is also known to sometimes shoot out “spare” internal organs when a predator approaches as a distraction while it escapes, so next time someone is chasing you, take after the sea cucumber and fart your lungs and intestines at them (survival not guaranteed).

5) Alaskan Wood Frogs

Winter temperatures in Alaska can get as low as -35 °C which makes it hard to survive for a creature that lives both above and below water. Fortunately, the Alaskan wood frog possesses a unique way to survive the coldest months of the year, which it does by freezing its own body. The reason it doesn’t die from doing this is because of the high levels of glucose it stores all over its body in preparation for winter, and when it freezes the glucose stops the cells in its body from expanding to the point where they would rupture and die. When it’s fully frozen, the frog’s heart will stop beating and it won’t breath either, with its entire body becoming completely rigid and lifeless, but when the spring thaws arrive, it’ll gt warm enough for its heart to begin beating again and the frog will seemingly come back to life.