Do Cockroaches Deserve Their Reputation?

The cockroach has a reputation for being one of the hardiest insects on the planet. A reputation that is well deserved, even though some of the ‘facts’ surrounding cockroaches are not true- like they would be the only survivor of a nuclear winter.

The facts that are true are amazing enough to ensure the cockroach keeps its rep. For starters, they can survive for over a week… without a head. I’d like to see you do that. They can also survive for about three months without eating anything. Another incredible fact is that cockroaches can survive underwater for 15 minutes. Humans can last, at most, five minutes.

The reason they can survive so long underwater is that they are able to shut down unneeded bodily functions, essentially putting themselves into an induced hibernation like state. This state comes in handy for the cockroach when their food supply dries up and is part of the reason that cockroaches have been relatively unchanged for the past 300 million years. In comparison, we humans have only been round for about 100 000 years, which makes us an infant compared to the antique cockroach.

The cockroaches’ reputation for hardiness is well deserved all right.