Jakarta –
When the asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, there were beetles there. While the dinosaurs and three-quarters of Earth’s species were wiped out by the event, the cockroaches survived the attack and survived to this day.
How can a cockroach only a few centimeters long survive when so many powerful animals have become extinct? It turns out that, according to a study, they are well equipped to survive a meteorite catastrophe.
If you’ve ever seen a cockroach, note that its body is very flat. It is not due to an accident. Insects that are flatter can squeeze into smaller spaces. This allows them to hide everywhere and this may have helped them survive the asteroid impact 66 million years ago.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Scroll to resume content
–
“When a meteor hits, the temperature on the Earth’s surface rises. Many animals have nowhere to escape, but cockroaches can take refuge in small crevices in the ground, which provide excellent protection from the heat,” said Brian Lovett, post researcher. – Ph.D. in Mycology, University of West Virginia, cited by Live Science, Sunday (4/10/2022).
This catastrophic event triggered a series of effects, raising so much dust that the sky went dark. As the Sun fades, the Earth’s temperature drops and conditions around the Earth cool down instantly. With little sunlight, surviving plants struggle to grow and many other organisms that depend on them starve.
However, this is not the case with cockroaches. Unlike most insects that prefer to eat a particular plant, cockroaches are omnivores. This means that they can eat most of the food. whether it comes from animals, plants, garbage and even dirt.
Having a finicky appetite has allowed cockroaches to survive difficult times from the extinction of dinosaurs and other natural disasters.
“Another useful feature is that cockroaches lay their eggs in small shelters. These eggshells look like dried beans and are called ootecas, which means” egg box. “Like cell phone cases, ootecas are hardy and hardy. they protect their contents from physical damage and other threats, such as floods and droughts, ”Lovett said.
Next page, on modern cockroaches >>>
–
