All life on Earth has been designed with survival in mind. Over countless thousands of years they have gradually adapted as those traits that prevented survival were gradually weaned out and those that promoted it were encouraged. Even the most basic creature has remarkable survival skills and are highly resilient in a huge number of ways. Still though, some are certainly better survivalists than others – just like those on this list of the top 10 most resilient animals.
10. Cockroaches – Cockroaches earn a worthy entry to the top 10 most resilient animals and are some of the most difficult to exterminate pests in the world. Common belief has it that they are the only macroscopic creatures to be able to survive a nuclear holocaust.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Cockroaches
9. Dinosaurs – Everyone thinks of the Dinosaurs as an unsuccessful race using their extinction of proof of this, so it may surprise you to see them proudly on a list of the top ten most resilient animals. However while they’re dead now, they nevertheless ruled the planet for millions of years and much longer than any other macroscopic life-form.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Dinosaurs
8. Methuselah Flies – Methuselah flies are unique on this list of the top 10 most most resilient animals in that they are technically ‘man-made’ through selective breading. By selectively breeding fruit flies, it is possible to increase their lifespans to five times the usual length – so far…
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Methuselah Flies
7. Sharks – Sharks are resilient in a very specific way when compared to others on this list of the top ten most resilient animals. They are here for the often quoted fact that they haven’t evolved for millions of years – simply because they are such efficient predators that they haven’t had to.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Sharks
6. Planarian – Planarian flat worms are amazingly resilient creatures that when cut in half become two organisms (it is a myth that this is true of normal worms). The same mechanism allows for regeneration of any body part.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Planarian Worm
5. Jellyfish – Not just any jellyfish make the top 10 most resilient animals – only the turritopsis nutricula jellyfish. A jellyfish that is actually biologically immortal. These creatures use ‘transdifferentiation’ after sexual intercourse in order to rejuvenate all of their cells in their body so that they can start life again as ‘polyps’.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Jellyfish
4. Hydra – Hydra is a genus of animals any of which could be counted among the top 10 most resilient animals. Fresh water creatures, they all possess ‘radial symmetry’ and not one post-mitotic cells. This then means that their cells can divide in order to undo damage and prevent ageing, and they have telomeres that never shorten.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Hydra
3. Bacteria – Bacteria are said to be immortal at the ‘level of the colony’ due to their ability to make near-exact copies of themselves at incredible rates thought of as rejuvenated copies of the original. This is why they are so difficult to exterminate in cases of illness and why they can adapt so quickly to medication and treatments.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Bacteria
2. Humans – In many ways humans could be considered a lot less resilient than many of the animals on this list. We’re not immortal and we’d have a hard time surviving a holocaust. Still though, we nevertheless have tremendous skills for using our intelligence and creativity to make uninhabitable areas into perfect homes, and we have.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Humans
1. Tardigrades – Tardigrades are also sometimes referred to as ‘water bears’ due to their appearance under the microscope. Again with indefinite senescence, they win this list of the top 10 most resilient animals for having the ability to slow their metabolism to near zero for up to ten years at a time and for even being able to survive in space as a result of this remarkable ability.
Top 10 Most Resilient Animals - Tardigrades
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I would have never guessed these top ten for most resillent animals. I can see some of them though. I am glad that humans made the list. That is great to hear.
I hate resilient animals. So it’s not really a pleasure for me reading this article about top 10 most resilient animals. But it is, however, interesting. For instance, I haven’t known about the existence of Tardigrades. Not to mention that it was impossible for me to know that it was no. 1 in top 10 most resilient animals.
That is just amazing what the turritopsis nutricula jellyfish can do. Being immortal like that is pretty cool. I think that it should have been moved to number one, and number 2 should have been humans. But it is pretty amazing that they can regenerate like that.
My thoughts exactly. This top 10 most resilient animals are exactly in the same order I would have put them. And although most of us dislike them (mostly the cockroaches), all of them in top 10 most resilient animals are useful somehow. Bacterias are useful for drugs, for instance.
PS: great thing that you have included humans in top 10 most resilient animals
Bacteria are also usefull for thing other than drugs, for instance, they make up a large role in food chains as they make up a food source for many living organisms and are energy efficient… I’m pretty sure, thats what my science teacher told me!!! LOL
PS: i want a pet tardugrade (it looks pretty dardy) just wish it was bigger 🙁
Humans should be the one in top 10 most resilient animals. Our intelligence should have been enough of a reason.
Anyway, I have never heard of tardigrades. They don’t seem too friendly =). But their skill to slow the metabolism is impressive.
That is just amazing about cockroaches. I can not stand them, but it is very true they are tough. My friends aunt had them and they were a pain to get rid of. Hard to exterminate for sure.
I feel that humans should be moved further up on the list. I wish we were number one, but come on, lets face it, we will die sometime. I would love to be immortal but that will never happen. I know we have many skills and have come a long way in the past 100 years, but to me we can not outwin death.
I wouldn’t have known what to include in top 10 most resilient animals. Looks like Tardigrades are the most resilient. I learnt about them in high school. Looking gross, yeah.
At first, I was surprised by the cockroaches’ presence in top 10 most resilient animals. But hell yeah, they are damn resilient.
To me it is amazing that a jellyfish can do that. For that fact I would have moved it closer to number one. It amazes me that they can grow like they do. Some of these animals are too hardy.
I thought that hydra would be the number one in top 10 most resilient animals. Seems like Tardigrades are more resilient, though. It’s great to find out such things. Thanks for writing this top 10 most resilient animals post. And for this blog, in general. 🙂
The number ten on top 10 most resilient animals is annoying as hell. Everyone hates cockroaches. We should do something about them. Maybe to make them disappear forever.
Sorry for my frustration, but I really hate ’em. Thanks for letting me know about top 10 most resilient animals.
It is pretty cool that one can make the Methuselah Flies live five times as long as they should. But they still kind of gross me out. I am happy that humans made the list. It is a pretty decent list for resillient animals.
Reading about top 10 most resilient animals remembered me of the insects. I can’t stand them. I hate flies, mosquitos and things like that. I always try not to think about the fact that they are somehow useful for nature. And cockroaches go in the same category, duh.
If Dinosaurs lived longer than anything, I would think they should be number one. Then make Humans number two, and then move everything else up a space. then the list would be good. A great top ten list of resilient animals.
It is really too bad that cockroaches are on this list. They are so hard to kill. And so gross as well. Maybe that is why they are resilient. I do not know. But they freak me out when I see them. Gross.
Sharks in my opinion should be moved down the list closer to number one. They have not evolved because there is no need for them to. They are highly resillient animals. I say give them the number 3 or 4 spot.
I guess I never thought that much about sharks being resilient. I did not know that they have not had to change. That is sort of cool. And I understand totally why cockroaches made this list. They are so hard to get rid of if you have them.
I am amazed at animals like the Planarian. I think that it is neat when you can cut it in half and it will survive. That is really resilient for sure. The top ten list was great. I would have never thought about some of these as resilient animals but my eyes have been opened.
I have never heard of those water bears before. I would have thought that humans would have been number one. It is pretty amazing though that sharks have not had to evolve. But I guess if you do not have to then why would you?
How can you put in top 10 most resilient animals the Cockroaches? Just looking at that picture and it makes me sick. It is disgusting. I cannot stand insects and these Cockroaches are horrible. Get these Cockroaches out of the top 10 most resilient animals.
The order isn’t really important, nobody ‘wins’. Sure cockroaches are disgusting for so many reasons, but so are humans, in more than one way.. we just happen to have the gift of being able to admire nature’s work, and I will never cease to enjoy it.
By the way, are you people posting comments the same bunch of people or…?
Bacteria are not animals. Otherwise, an interesting list.