Bald eagles, bears, seals, gulls, wolves and more feast on the easy calories. Naturalists know that Alaska’s salmon runs feed a rich and complex ecosystem. In this case, the tapeworm comes from the bears’ famous diet of salmon. It’s not unusual for bears to harbor parasites. Viewers of live cam feed at Katmai National Park occasionally note giant worms dangling from the famous brown bears. In fact, a quick YouTube search will show plenty of videos in this sub-genre. But Kampnich tells me it’s not the first time he has seen bears with tapeworms of various sizes.Īlaskan bears – both black and grizzly – are particularly noted for tapeworms protruding out their butts. The bruin vigorously rubs its behind against a tree to unsuccessfully dislodge the parasite, then walks a bit more and gives a few shakes for good measure. The bear is dragging what appears to be at least 6 feet of tapeworm.
The camera trap video was captured on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island by conservationist Michael Kampnich and its yuck factor has proven to be a big hit on trail camera social media groups. Let’s take a look at an aspect of the salmon ecosystem that you likely never considered. It turns out, this happens more than you might think, especially in Alaskan bears. Is this rare? Will the bear be ok? How did it get the tapeworm? Many are disturbed to learn that this bear is passing a very large tapeworm.
