WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Futurama, season 11, episode 2: “Children of a Lesser Bog.”
Season 11 of Futurama is well underway. After premiering on July 24, the American sitcom which began airing in 1999, has released two episodes thus far of its latest batch. The third episode, “How the West Was 1010001,” is due to be released on August 7, which would be next Monday. If you managed to catch the second episode, “Children of a Lesser Bog,” you’ll be somewhat familiar with the concept of tardigrades.
First introduced in Season 4’s “300 Big Boys,” we meet again the former Whale Biologist and now Bear Biologist who’s studying animal lifeforms at Exobiology Station 38. Kif and Zapp have traveled the the aforementioned station in the hopes of re-establishing contact with the outpost. When Kif and Zapp arrive, The Bear Biologist explains that they study tardigrades at this particular outpost, the very organisms responsible for destroying the communication equipment.
Kif fixes the transmitter and Zapp takes a candy break, but the smell of human food sends the tardigrades crazy, and they drag a screaming Zapp into a nearby cave. But not to worry, Kif goes in after him and turns several tardigrades into — would you believe it — cave paintings. And all’s well that ends well.
But are tardigrades real? Futurama loves to invent weird and wonderful alien entities for Fry and co. to battle, but as far as tardigrades, those are real. Tardigrades, also known as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged micro-animals. These microscopic animals have integrated themselves into pop culture, appearing in TV sitcoms like Family Guy and South Park. They are distantly related to arthropods, but defy classification.
Tardigrades are also among the most resilient animals in existence, able to withstand extreme conditions in order to survive; i.e. air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation. Futurama likely chose to spread awareness of tardigrades because the species has survived exposure to outer space, therefore it is believable that they exist on other planets as far as a fictional setting. The nickname “water bear” is derived from the way they walk, which resembles a bear’s gait.
Despite all that they can endure, tardigrades only live a few months as standard. The water-dwelling micro-animals are known to be able to live for up to 30 years without food or water. But with that level of starvation, no wonder they went bonkers over Zapp’s confectionery.
Here’s where to watch Futurama if you’re itching to stay up-to-date.