This section of the zoo includes many microbial habitats in addition to those found strictly in soil. These include compost, toxic wastes, hot springs, snow, and on statues. Acres Microbes are essential for growing all our crops. Compost Pile Many microbes convert organic wastes into useful compost. Home Sweet Home See what lives on your cutting board, on your shower curtain, in your couch and in your carpet.
Some microbes can survive temperatures about the boiling point.
These are called thermophiles. House of Horrors Visit monsters of the microbial world. See vampire bacteria that suck the life juices from other bacteria, Bdellovibrio, which gets inside other bacteria and eats their guts out, and fungi that strangle worms. Some microbes live on snow and ice and die at room temperature. These are called psychrophiles.