Attachments Cling to Intestinal Wall

close up 3d microscopic image of a parasite

Biological Strategy

Pork tapeworm

AskNature Team

Image: D. Kucharski & K. Kucharska / Shutterstock / Some rights reserved

Attach Permanently

A living system can conserve energy by attaching permanently to a particular site because it can take advantage of resources that come its way, rather than expending energy to move to resources. A permanent attachment, intended to last the lifetime of the living system, creates special challenges. For example, physical mechanisms, such as the anchor that holds a marine algae to the ocean’s bottom, must be able to withstand forces that can pull it off its substrate. Chemical mechanisms, such as a barnacle’s glue, must avoid both physical and chemical breakdown, such as being dissolved by water.

Search this Function

Animals

Kingdom Animalia (“having breath or soul”): Mammals, reptiles, sponges, corals, insects, birds

This kingdom captures a staggering variety of life—from the smallest coral polyp to the largest elephant. Although animal body shapes and life histories vary, there are a few defining characteristics. Animals are heterotrophs, meaning they gain energy from eating other organisms, and have developed from single-celled ancestors to highly diversified and coordinated multicellular forms. Unlike plant and fungi cells that have rigid cell walls, animal cells are bound by more flexible combinations of proteins. Most animals have cells organized into tissues and are able to move within their environment.

Search this Living System

Nature’s Innovations: Animals as Engineers

This lesson, with eight short videos, examines how animals have solved engineering problems and how humans have mimicked those solutions. This lesson addresses middle and high school Next Generation Science Standards in Life Sciences and Engineering Design

View Resource

The headlike segment of a pork tapeworm attaches to a host's intestinal wall using suckers and sometimes hooks.

“A typical species, such as the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium), consists of an anterior region known as the scolex, armed with suckers and sometimes hooks, too, for attachment to its host’s internal intestinal wall…” (Shuker 2001:166)

This video from Shape of Life discusses tapeworm anatomy and reproduction. At about 0:30, the video shows a variety of tapeworms species and the specialized heads that allow them to attached to the intestinal wall of their host.