This may sound wierd, but I wish to maybe contribute to the appreciation of
tardigrades.

I am not a scientist, but my interest in science has been a driving force in
my life.  As a child, I had a telescope, and a microscope - I was not good in
math, but somehow could appreciate the beauty of it all.

I have a DSM classification, and a MENSA card.  Maybe you will understand...

I love microscopy, and after, as a child, seeing a picture of a Bärtierchen,
(I know german too, I recieved an award from the German Consul in San
Francisco), I was intrigued.  For a short time, I did, still a child, squeeze
the mosses in the back yard, but there were only nematodes to be found.

Because of my DSM status, well, not because, but the way I am, I tend to
become intensely involved with what I am doing at the time.  I hope the
following account will interest you.

After many adventures in life, I found myself in Germany with my wife
(German; I'm American).  I have a microscope - not one of those fancy
bino-scopes which are standard - which we used in the hospitals as a was
studying medical technology - spurred on because of an interest in
bacteriology), but a vintage, 1936 Stativ L Leitz mono.  I am rather
attached to it - it was given to me, and the optics are superb.

I always had the habit of periodically going to the nearest pond or stream
just to see what was there.

But one day - we had an old Christmas tree stand which stood outside on the
terrace.  Out of curiosity, I just had to have a look.  The stand, well, the
water which had collected there, was full of these things.  In every slide
there were at least 10 to be seen. Kinchin's book was not out yet, but
Markus was in reprint.  I ordered a copy...

To continue, I observed, and observed .. and I thought about I could
maintain them.  The milieu was not only populated by tardigrades, but also
rotifera and masses of blue-green algae in various forms.

I made a couple of slides, and every day I would observe these creatures.
When I was not observing, I placed the slides under one of those
energy-saving screw-in fluorescent lamps which do not get hot.  I set a
timer so that at nicht there would be at least 4 hours of darkness, since
the algae must also metabolize and be maintained, since it was the most
likely food source.  This seemed to succeed.  I was able to maintain this
micro-ecosystem for four months.  Tardigrades, rotifers, and the Blaualgen.

I observed everyday and I noticed that a tardigrade had cast off its cuticle
and had deposited eggs in them.  Every day I watched as the embryos
developed - the first noticeable thing was the stiletto, but as days went by
you could also see the 'eyes' appear along which their appendages. (Forgive
my spelling).  Later I noticed occasional, and increasing movement of the
stiletti (there were, as I remember, 5 - 6 ova in the discarded cuticle.

After approximatly 2 week had passed, I had, well, a Gut Feeling that It was
about to happen.  Almost every hour a had to take a look. After coming home
from shopping with my wife, I decided to look, and It happened - the eggs
were hatching!  I watched as they used their stiletti to pierce through
their shells - and after about 20 minutes, all had hatched.  The tiny things
were climbing over each other, attempting to pierce through the cuticle.

But, after about 15 minutes of intense activity, they all seemed to 'freeze'
- all movement stopped.  I did believe that oxygen supply in the water
enclosed in the cuticle had been depleted, and I was - well - passionately
involved in this event.  I thought they had died ... I left the microscope
for about an hour, but returned to observe.  Most had succeeded in leaving
the cuticle, and I observed the last two as they actively made it out
through openings apparently created by the others.

For about a week I was able to track the movements of the young ones in my
little ecosystem, but they seemed to disappear one by one.

I finally found the reason.  There was a strange fungus ( I had recognized
it as such ) which consisted of a long strand with branches tipped with
semiclear 'bulbs'.  There were several of the babies attached to them,
struggling, but were not able to escape...  I realized then that I could no
longer maintain my slides - and this explained why I had trouble locating
the adults.

The show was over, and because of my illness, I can only describe my state
as being 'heartbroken'.

I did continue to search for these creatures.  I scoured the autumn leaves
and found several - different from those in the christmas tree stand, brown
-striped, with less distinguished 'eyes' - I was able to maintain these also
, but for a shorter period of time, but they did lay eggs which hatched -
but the population did not survive, even under the conditions where the
other species had thrived.

I then, with a technique of using a very fine brush, was able to transfer
the last remaining adult to another slide - this time using green algae
(Chlorella?) whiched I had scraped from the outside of the house.  The
animal survived, I only observed it feed once - and not algae - but it
sucked the contents from a rotifer egg.  I never observed consumption of
plant material.  Every few days, you could seed eggs being produced, and I
anticipated that these eggs would be laid.  But it seemed that the eggs
would be reabsorbed.  This happened several times.  No eggs were ever laid.
I later found the animal dead.

I now have a copy of Kinchen, but since, and for other reasons, my illness
became worse ( 5 years in an institution - and a divorce..), I was not able,
nor had the drive to continue my observations.  During the period of these
observations, I asked my then wife to allow me to purchase a camera so that
I could document these events.  For my birthday she bought me an overcoat.
There went that idea...

That's about all, but I hope that you may appreciate this rather
unmethodical, unscientific, but passionate rendering of my observations.

I do strive to be accurate - I am and have been for about 12 years a
programmer, but am now on a disability pension.

I hope that you, as tardigradologists, may find something interesting in my
account.  I only want, in my own weak way, to contribute...

Thank you,

Paul Olin

P.S.  If this has been positive, a bit of encouraging feedback would be
deeply appreciated!! Thanks!