No need for water
One of the most remarkable abilities of tardigrades is their ability to survive without water for years. When water is scarce, tardigrades enter a state of suspended animation called cryptobiosis. In this state, they essentially shut down their metabolism and become dehydrated.
In this state, tardigrades can survive for years. When water is available again, they can come back to life as if nothing happened. Tardigrades undergo several physiological changes, like producing special proteins called tardigrade-specific intrinsically disordered proteins (TDPs), which help protect their cells from dehydration.
