La Cucaracha, La Cucaracha

« Busted Science Myths | Home | Bird Eating Spider »

By Linda | October 22, 2008

10 interesting facts about the humble yet resilient cockroach…

Like Humans, cockroaches are omnivores - they will eat anything organic including but not limited to dead things, grease, crumbs, discarded human skin cells, their own eggs and glue off the back of postage stamps and book bindings (glue is usually derived from animal protein).
Cockroaches can truly live without their heads for up to a month. A beheaded specimen would continue to breathe (through its spiracles) and lead a rather boring existence without much activity until (barring an infection by a mold, virus or bacterium) it eventually died of dehydration and starvation.
In some species of cockroach, the female needs only mate once to produce eggs for her entire lifespan.
Cockroaches are rather large insects. Most species are about the size of a thumbnail, but several species are bigger. The world’s largest cockroach is the Australian Giant Burrowing Cockroach, which can reach over 3.5″ in length and weigh more than 1.06 ounces.
Some cockroach species can go without air for 45 minutes
The spines on the legs of cockroaches were earlier considered to be sensory, but observations of their locomotion on sand and wire meshes has demonstrated that they help in locomotion on difficult terrain. Cockroach legs have been used as inspiration for robotic leg designs.
There are about 4,000 species of cockroach of which 30 species are associated with human habitations and about four species are well known as pests.
The commonly held belief that in the case of a nuclear holocaust cockroaches would be the last species left to inherit the earth is not really accurate. Although cockroaches do indeed have a much higher radiation resistance than vertebrates, with the lethal dose perhaps 6 to 15 times that for humans, they are not exceptionally radiation-resistant compared to other insects, such as the fruit fly.
Newly hatched roaches, known as nymphs, are usually white. Shortly after birth, they turn brown, and their exoskeletons harden. At this point nymphs begin to resemble small, wingless adult roaches. Nymphs molt several times as they become adults. The period between each molt is known as an instar. With each instar the nymph becomes progressively more like an adult cockroach. In some species, this process takes only a few weeks. In others, like the oriental cockroach, it takes between one and two years. The overall life span of cockroaches differs as well — some live only a few months while others live for more than two years.
As they walk, cockroaches leave trails of fecal matter (poop), which they use to find their way around. On top of being gross, these trails can cause stains and odors and contain lots of bacteria. The proteins in cockroach saliva and waste can also cause allergies and aggravate asthma.