Species That Use Other Animals as Transportation
From Tiny Hitchhikers on Flies to Barnacles Riding Across Entire Oceans
Some species solve the problem of getting around by simply catching a ride on something else. A pseudoscorpion clamps onto a fly’s leg to travel somewhere new. A barnacle spends its entire adult life stuck to a whale, carried across oceans it could never cross alone. A male anglerfish takes hitchhiking to its most extreme conclusion, permanently fusing his body to a much larger female.
This guide brings together several standout species that rely on another animal purely as a means of transportation.
💡 Quick Fact
This guide covers six standout hitchhiking species and answers to common questions about how they travel.
🔬 Animal Hitchhikers by the Numbers
standout hitchhiking species featured in this guide
legs a host insect typically has available for a pseudoscorpion to grip onto
host species covered in this guide across both land and ocean environments
Standout Animal Hitchhikers
These species show some of the clearest, most well-documented examples of using another animal purely for transport:
More Animal Hitchhikers Worth Knowing
Beyond the most extreme examples, several other species show their own notable hitchhiking behavior:
Why Hitchhiking Makes Sense for These Species
Relying on another animal for movement offers a real practical advantage for species facing specific mobility limits.
Covering Distances They Can’t Manage Alone
A slow or immobile species can reach far more territory riding a mobile host
Conserving Limited Energy
Letting a host do the traveling saves the hitchhiker significant effort and risk
Reaching Resource-Rich New Locations
A host animal often travels directly toward exactly the kind of new habitat a hitchhiker needs
For species that are naturally slow-moving, tiny, or entirely immobile as adults, this strategy can be the difference between staying permanently stuck in one place and reaching genuinely new opportunities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion: Getting Somewhere Without Doing the Work
From a pseudoscorpion’s brief grip on a passing fly to a barnacle’s lifelong ride across the open ocean, these species show that hitchhiking is a genuinely effective survival strategy across an enormous range of scale, from the microscopic to the massive.
Whether it’s a temporary lift to a new location or a permanent, lifelong attachment, these species prove that sometimes the smartest way to get somewhere is to let someone else do all the traveling.
Want to learn more?
Look into research on phoresy and commensal transport relationships in ecology, and share which hitchhiking species on this list surprised you the most!
