What most people know about cockroaches is pests that appear on dirty kitchens. In fact, these insects are associated with many interesting and cognitive facts, which will be described in our selection.
Because of the word "cockroach" many people panic, especially if it concerns huge insects. However, few people know that these organisms breathe the whole body, they can live without food and even a head for a long time. For you - the most interesting facts about cockroaches.
1. Omnivorous pests
Cockroaches, which can be seen in a not very clean kitchen, are omnivorous. For example, they can eat hair, plastic, soap and so on. At the same time, insects living in the wild, form their diet exclusively from organic waste.
2. Allergic to cockroaches
The first time scientists faced asthma, provoked by cockroaches, more than 50 years ago. Allergens are feces and parts of the body of the insect, which began to decompose. Scientists believe that the greatest risk for the development of such an allergy are urban children who spend little time in the fresh air.
3. Unique Agility
It is not easy to catch a cockroach, as it cleverly evades potential threats, and there is an explanation for this. The thing is that on the feet of these insects there are hairs that react even to minimal air movements.
4. Flying horror
Crawling cockroaches are one thing, but imagine that there is a kind of flying insects, whose wingspan is 18.5 cm. If you plan to travel in America, then you know that this kind of cockroaches is common in the central and southern part of the continent.
5. Walking barometers
For cockroaches, you can determine when the rain will begin, as they react to changes in barometric pressure. For example, in Bermuda, one hour before the pouring rain you can see how a huge number of cockroaches are running somewhere.
6. High-speed runners
Scientists have conducted research and determined that the maximum speed that was recorded in the cockroach is about 75 cm / s. If you correlate this distance with its body size, then you get an excellent result.
7. Useful addition
Cockroaches have not only the jaw located in the mouth. In their stomach are the teeth, which help chew faster and assimilate food inside.
8. The perpetrators of global warming
This information is really shocking. As studies have shown, cockroaches about every 15 minutes. produce gases. Interestingly, even after his death for 18 hours, the insect secretes methane. If we consider this issue globally, it turns out that cockroaches produce up to 20% of all methane emissions on Earth. Hence, it can be concluded that these nasty insects make a significant contribution to global warming.
9. Singing cockroach
Madagascar cockroaches are not only known for their impressive size, but also the ability to produce sounds using air channels. By the way, scientists believe that this skill is not developed in other insects. A characteristic hissing sound Madagascar cockroach uses to scare off predators or during a fight with yourself like.
10. Problems with coordination
Cockroaches refer to insects that can not be turned from the back without additional support. If in the wild there is something to catch, for example, grass or pebbles, then there are no such "assistants" in the houses, and when the landing fails, the cockroaches die an excruciating death.
11. This is the population!
Science knows more than 4,600 species of cockroaches, and is pleased with the fact that in life a person crosses only with 30 of them. It is also interesting that only four species of cockroaches are recognized as pests.
12. Head for Beauty
If many insects, animals and people need a head to perform different functions, then for cockroaches it is not at all important. It's very simple: they breathe through, breathing holes located throughout the body, they do not have blood pressure, so when they cut the head they will not bleed, they can hold out for more than a month under conditions of cool temperature, without food. Hence, scientists concluded that without a head, a cockroach can survive long enough if it avoids infection with an infection.
13. Aromas of Love
Not only do people react to pheromones. Thus, it was proved that the female cockroach attracts a male, precisely singling out pheromones. By the way, for the whole life the female is capable to postpone more than 400 eggs.
14. Immunity to radiation
There is an opinion that cockroaches are the only creatures on Earth that can survive if a nuclear explosion occurs. This is explained by the fact that cells are sensitive to radiation only when their division occurs, and in cockroaches it can only be during moulting, about once a week. As a result, with the explosion of a nuclear bomb, approximately 1/4 of the entire population will die.