Tardigrades. These incredibly little water bears can go without eating and water for more than 10 years and can survive the vacuum of space. They can also withstand pressures around six times greater than those found in the deepest ocean trenches, and handle ridiculous doses of radiation.
Perhaps if the day ever comes that we humans destroy ourselves and the ability of the planet to sustain complex life then these little fellas may be the start of the next evolutionary tree leading upward to consciousness.
