18 Interesting Cockroach Facts – Did You Know?

WARNING: THIS POST MAY CAUSE A LOSS IN APPETITE. VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK. LOL.

This post is part of the Did You Know? series on Listfied.

photo: emrank

Cockroaches (or “roaches”), as we all know, are those disgusting pests roaming our houses and buildings, and scaring the heck out of everyone (I have “cockroach-phobia”). And, they’re pretty yucky too. And nobody wants to be around these pests.

Here are 20 interesting (and yucky) facts about roaches. Have fun!

1. The largest roach ever discovered lives in South America, is six inches long, and has a one-foot wingspan.

2. There are about 4000 species of cockroach, of which 20 are associated with human habitations.

3. Cockroaches can easily live without their heads for an entire week, because its brain is not in its head. It’s brain is all over his body. It dies only because it doesn’t have a mouth (you cut it off with the head), and so it cannot drink, and it dies of thirst.

4. Cockroaches have white blood.

5. A typical cockroach has 6 legs with at least 18 knees.

6. A female roach mates only once, and stays pregnant for the rest of her life.

7. “Cockroach tea” is known to have medicinal properties: it is used to treat edema (inflammation). Also, processed cockroaches have been used for hundreds of years to cure illnesses.

8. Cockroaches have been around for a long, long, long time. They are believed to have originated during the Carboniferous era, about 280 million years ago.

9. Cockroaches spend 75% of their time resting. Lazy.

10. Cockroaches aren’t always coloured dirty-brown. Tropical cockroaches have all sorts of colours: red, green, yellow…

11. Cockroaches can hold their breath for 40 minutes. The best a human can do is about 9 minutes. That’s why humans shouldn’t have a breath holding contest with cockroaches

12. Cockroaches have exoskeletons: their skeletons are outside their bodies, which protects their bodies.

13. Cockroaches shed their outer skin, like snakes do. A cockroache which has just shed its skin is white, with black eyes. It remains this way until the new skin comes on.

14. Along with being used for medicinal purposes, cockroaches have been used in sauces and appetizers.

15. Female cockroaches release “perfumes” called pheromones. These pheromones attract male cockroaches.

16. A cockroach doesn’t need a large hole or crack in the wall to get through. A hole with as small a diameter as .5 mm can easily hide a young roach.

17. Cockroaches breathe through their sides, and not through their noses.

18. Cockroaches can run at a speed of up to 3 miles an hour. That’s the walking speed of the average human.

Sources

http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/roaches/pg000097.html

http://www.essortment.com/all/cockroachanthro_ryoa.htm

http://www.roachcom.net/rofacts

You Got any Roach Facts?

Do you have any cockroach facts you’d like to share? Please do