9 facts about cockroaches that make you feel uncomfortable

1. A cockroach can live without a head for several weeks.

These unpleasant insects are very tenacious. If you cut off the head of a cockroach, the body will continue to work as long as nutrients and water remain in it.

The cut off part will also function and move its mustache.

And if fileFact or Fiction?: A Cockroach Can Live without Its Head News and Research / Scientific American fill it with nutrients and store it in the refrigerator - yes, the physiologists from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst got confused as they should - the head can live for several weeks.

In fact, cockroaches use this body part mainly for eating and drinking, and not for complex thought processes. In addition, they do not have pressure in the vessels, so even decapitation is not a serious injury for them: the hemolymph will quickly clot, and the cockroach will not die from blood loss. Only from thirst.

2. Cockroaches can attack people

Many believe that mustachioed pests do not pose a danger to humans. This is not quite true: cockroaches possess1. Fast and Powerful: Biomechanics and Bite Forces of the Mandibles in the American Cockroach Periplaneta americana / PLOS One,
2. A Cockroach Can Bite Five Times Stronger Than a Human / Gizmodo powerful jaws, with which they can gnaw both plants and animals. And people too!

Moreover, the mustachioed bite a person not for the purpose of self-defense, but precisely for the sake of food.

Smelling the smell of food, a hungry cockroach can crawl into the bed with the people who eat there, and profitDo Cockroaches Bite Humans? /Pestkilled not only crumbs, but also human skin. Those who felt it on their own skin claim that the bite causes severe itching.

Cockroaches are not poisonous, but they have a lot of bacteria on their jaws, so insects can bring infection into the body. In addition, an allergic reaction is possible. Therefore, the bite is necessary disinfectDo Cockroaches Bite Humans? /Pestkilled, and if the inflammation does not go away - consult a doctor.

3. Cockroaches are able to collectively make decisions

Cockroaches are social animals. They like to gather in flocks, and an insect deprived of company will wither and suffer. In addition, the whiskered ones brought up in isolation are worse interactThe weight of the clan: Even in insects, social isolation can induce a behavioral syndrome / ScienceDirect with their relatives and are not as efficient in looking for food. They simply have no one to learn how a decent cockroach should behave.

When looking for food, these creatures leave behind a trail of feces, which their comrades use to find the most successful routes to feeding grounds.

Cockroaches have a complex social structureThe Other Insect Societies - James T. Costa: insects from one group may behave completely differently from their relatives from another, as if they form different collective personalitiesGroup personality during collective decision-making: a multi-level approach / Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Individuals obeyThe social biology of domiciliary cockroaches: colony structure, kin recognition and collective decisions / SpringerLink the will of the majority - that is, if the bulk of the pack decides to run in a certain direction, everyone else will follow it. It has been established that everyone in the pack enjoys equal rights - no leaders and outsiders. And for coordinationEven cockroaches have personalities / Science actions and reaching consensus, cockroaches send signals to each other with pheromones.

By the way, some of them are so socially advanced that they even care for their young.

4. Cockroaches are cannibals

As we mentioned, these insects are omnivorous and willingly devour other invertebrates. So, if they have little food, some members of the pack will start eating others, forgetting about sociality. Who will be whose dinner, it turns out in an honest (or not) fight.

Cannibalism usefulThe Other Insect Societies - James T. Costa for cockroaches for three reasons. Firstly, pack mates are not only friendly communication, reproduction and a joint search for food, but also a supply of calories for a rainy day. Secondly, such a policy helps to weed out the weakest individuals and promotes the prosperity of the stronger ones.

Democracy is good in well-fed times, but in starvation, a cockroach is a cockroach a wolf.

And thirdly, the number of hungry mouths is reduced by eating them with other hungry mouths, so cannibalism is a kind of mechanismThe American CockroachWilliam D. Bell regulation of consumption in a cockroach society.

5. Cockroaches can increase the size of their testicles at will

Madagascar hissing cockroaches have a superpower that many people would probably want to get their hands on.

This type of insect determines who will mate with the female through ritual wrestling matches. Those individuals that wish to become the most effective warriors grow powerful muscles and strong horns to throw their rivals over the hip.

But weaker specimens ultimately come to the conclusion: you can’t take quality - take quantity. In the end theyacquireGiant Roaches Can Grow Big Testicles When They Need Them / National Geographic simply huge - compared to other cockroaches - testicles and fertilize as many females as possible without wasting time on fights.

That is, these cunning people literally invest the absorbed nutrients not in horns and strong legs, but in breeding tools.

6. Cockroaches don't like to be touched by people.

Touching a cockroach with a bare hand causes a feeling of disgust in many people. Know that it's mutual. The insect will also avoid physical contact as much as possible.

The fact is that human skin produces a lot of fat. Well, how much: normal for us, but too much for a cockroach. When we touch an insect, the fat covers the body of the insect and irritates its senses. Mustache especially.

Keeping Antennas Clean is Incredible for a Cockroach importantInsects groom their antennae to enhance olfactory acuity / PNAS, because he receives the overwhelming amount of information about the world through them.

Therefore, after you release the cockroach, he will run away and begin to diligently clean his mustache from fat, putting it in his mouth.

Many other insects, such as flies, clean themselves in the same way after touching a person. Of course, this is not a feeling of disgust - insects do not have feelings at all. Just physical needAre Cockroaches Disgusted By Humans? /PestLockDown - how to blink away a mote for you.

7. Cockroaches like to get into people's ears.

Attention: after reading this text, you will have one more phobia.

In general, as you understand, cockroaches do not particularly like to touch people, but sometimes their interest overpowers disgust. Entomologists at North Carolina State University claimYour ears are cockroach heaven and that's why they keep crawling in there / The Vergethat these insects are very fond of volatile fatty acids found in fermented foods such as bread and beer. And also - in the secret of the glands of your ear canal.

Earwax for Prussians tastes like high-quality, mouth-watering cheese for you.

Add also the fact that cockroaches loveYour ears are cockroach heaven and that's why they keep crawling in there / The Verge narrow, dark and damp places: they give insects a sense of security. Well, the fact that the mustachioed are mainly nocturnal.

All this leads to the fact that periodically cockroaches crawl into people's ears, and they have to be removed surgically. And then disinfect the ear canals, because a barbel stuck there with a fright can vomit, and his vomit is full of all sorts of harmful bacteria.

Cockroaches are objectEar foreign-body removal: a review of 98 consecutive cases / PubMed the number one most common thing in human ears. They are followed by bread crumbs and bits of cotton, in case you're wondering.

8. Cockroach brains contain antibiotics

Cockroaches sometimes live in such terrible conditions that any other living creature there will earn a bunch of infections and die safely. But the Prussians don't care.

The fact is that their nervous system, in particular the brain and spinal cord, contains at least nine chemical compounds that serve as real antibiotics.

Even diluted, in the laboratory these substancesInsect brains are rich stores of new antibiotics / ScienceDaily can destroy up to 90% of even the most resistant strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. And in cockroaches, antimicrobial sera splash in the brain in a concentrated form.

Such stamina allows them to be carriers of a variety of diseases and at the same time not suffer from them themselves.

9. Cockroaches learn from their mistakes

In general, cockroaches can hardly be called intellectuals - after all, they can live with an amputated brain. But these insects have certain learning abilities.

Experts from North Carolina State University figured outYikes! Cockroaches Evolved to Avoid Sugary Baits / Live Sciencethat if you lure cockroaches with sugar with poison, the first batch of Prussians will be poisoned. Then the same thing will happen with the insects, who decided to profit from the corpses of their fallen comrades. And the surviving barbels will eventually develop a persistent aversion to sugar, and even their taste buds will begin to perceive its taste not sweet, but bitter. And they will avoid poisoned bait.

In addition, cockroaches are constantly developing immunity to new pesticides - these bastards are evolving!

Therefore, poison manufacturers do not recommend using only these substances in the fight against cockroaches - you need combineCockroaches could soon be almost impossible to kill with pesticides / The Guardian chemistry with insect traps, as well as keeping the premises clean so that cockroaches cannot find food.