Facts about Cockroaches

There are roughly 3,500 species of cockroaches. Cockroaches exist worldwide, except for the polar regions. Most well-known species that are found in our homes are the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, which is about 3 cm long, and the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, about one-and-a-half cm long, and the Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai, also about one-and-a-half cm in length.

They have long antennae, and capable of triggering asthma attacks and spreading infectious diseases. They can regenerate their limbs. They have an extremely long life span in terms of insects, can live up to 700 days. They can give birth to many offspring. Some of the cockroaches also resistance to many insect repellent sprays and pesticides.

Cockroaches have more DNA than any other insects. They have a chemoreceptor which allows them to sense what is around them. In cockroach, chemical sensors seem to play a key role in the insects’ ability to sense food and distinguish what can be eaten from what cannot. American cockroaches have 154 different olfactory or “smell” receptor genes, twice as many as other species of cockroaches and termites. They also have 522 gustatory, or taste, receptors — far more than has ever been seen in any other insect — allowing them to discriminate foods and avoid anything toxic.

Due to their super taster ability, they can sip milk, nibble cheese, eat meat, love chocolate, and show a preference for sugars and starch. But they also eat cardboard, books, shoe soles, their own cast-off skins, dead and dying cockroaches and the fingernails of sleeping babies they can almost enjoy everything.

Reference:

https://www.insidescience.org/news/consider-cockroach

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/cockroach.htm