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Click on an audio format for a sound bite from Tommi:
AIFF | WAV
Dateline: Inside a Cow with Tommi the Tapeworm
Wendell: We're here in search of Tommi the Tapeworm. We won't shy away from the tough
questions...the burning questions we all want to ask him.
Wendell: Hello, Tommi. Let me cut to the chase.... You're a parasite. Why do you do it?
How can live off others?
Tommi: Wendell, it's no big deal. I'm only doing what comes naturally. The way you need
decomposing leaves, I need a host to live off of. If I wasn't able to live off of others, I just
wouldn't be able to live.
Wendell: Really?
Tommi: Yes, really. And don't think I'm so unusual. I'm just one of many parasites in
this world -- there are other worms, insects, even one kind of bat. If you checked, you'd find that
virtually every animal in the wild might have one or more parasites living inside it. It's
certainly rarer, but sometimes even humans have parasites living in them.
Wendell: Now that's very reassuring.
Tommi: Look, Larry, we work hard to stay alive! Take a fish tapeworm. Hanging on to the
outside of a fast-moving fish is no easy matter, let me tell you. They have to use a big sucker at
the end of their body, as well as a bunch of hooks on their sides to they hold on for dear life!
Some parasite worms stay in just one host. Others have a long hard journey to get where
they're going. Some smuggle away in one living thing in order to get eaten and into another. A bear
tapeworm, for example, starts in a tiny copepod in the water (we call them "insects of the sea" cuz
they kind of look like a bug.) The copepod is eaten by a fish, and then a larger fish who is, at
last, eaten by the bear. Then, the worm is finally home!
Wendell: You're right! That is a long, hard journey. I confess I like to stay put. Just
burrowing around in the dirt is fine by me. Okay, so tell us a little more about yourself.
Tommi: Well, as you can see, I look a little like a long, flat ribbon. I'm a beef
tapeworm. And a particularly long one, at that. I'm 30 feet long and have somewhere between
1000-2000 sections (I gave up on counting them long ago). I'm not common in the United States but
you can find me in many parts of the world. There are over 3500 other species of tapeworm and we
range in length from a millimeter long to 30 meters in a Sperm Whale.
Wendell: Tommi, I wanted to ask you...
Tommi: Wendell, I don't mean to be rude. But I just have got to run.... I've got to
catch a fly. I'm planning on riding one into that cattle field. I'm a tapeworm in a desperate
search for a host!
Wendell: Uh-ummmmmm. Well, thanks Tommi for giving us these insights into the life of
parasite. This is Wendell Worm reporting.
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Beef tapeworm, exposed
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