Fast Fauna Facts #6 - Hay Bacillus (Bacillus subtilis)
Family: Bacillus Family (Bacillaceae)
IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed
These pill-shaped, non-pathogenic bacteria are extremely common, and can be found in soil, in water and as a harmless resident of the digestive systems of animals worldwide. They're most common in soil that is rich in organic matter, and "feed" by absorbing sufficiently small organic molecules across their cell membrane. When food is abundant Hay Bacilli are stationary, but when suitably-sized organic molecules become scarcer they develop numerous flagella (tail-like extensions of their cell walls) in order to swim or crawl to new areas. When faced with a total lack of resources or harsh environmental conditions members of this species undergo a process called sporulation in which they essentially create a copy of their genetic material, encase it in a tough protective membrane and release it into their environment where it lies dormant as an extremely durable structure called an endospore, developing into a new but genetically identical bacterium when conditions improve.
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