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Parasites review: A fascinating tour of supremely successful invaders

Parasites get everywhere. From 30-metre-long tapeworms in blue whales to leeches living in hippos' anuses, Parasites: The inside story explores what its authors believe is the most successful lifestyle on Earth

By Gege Li

4 January 2023

The broad fish tapeworm, Diphyllobothrium sp., that infected this Alaskan brown bear, escapes out of the host's anus. 2007. Photograph by Scott Davis. Used with permission.

A broad fish tapeworm escapes out of the anus of its host, an Alaskan brown bear

Scott Davis

Parasites: The inside story

Scott L. Gardner, Judy Diamond and Gabor Racz (Princeton University Press)

WHAT goes on the list of the most abundant living things on Earth? Parasites should surely make the cut. They live within us and many other animals, as well as in plants and fungi, and slip under the radar while infiltrating almost every food web and ecosystem. They are mind-bogglingly diverse, with hardy and sometimes extraordinary ways of living and …

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