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When asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, there cockroach there. While the dinosaurs and three-quarters of Earth’s species were wiped out by the event, the cockroaches survived the attacks and have survived to this day.
How did cockroaches that were only a few centimeters in length survive when so many powerful animals became extinct? It turns out that according to one study, they are well equipped to survive a meteor catastrophe.
If you’ve seen cockroach, notice that their bodies are very flat. It’s not an accident. Insects that are flatter, can squeeze themselves into tighter spaces. This allows them to hide anywhere, and this may have helped them survive the asteroid impact 66 million years ago.
“When a meteor hits, the temperature on Earth’s surface rises. Many animals have nowhere to escape, but cockroaches can take shelter in small crevices of soil, which provide excellent protection from the heat,” said Brian Lovett, Postdoctoral Researcher in Mycology, University of West Virginia, quoted from Live Science, Sunday (10/4/2022).
This cataclysmic event triggered a series of effects, kicking up so much dust that the sky darkened. When the Sun dims, the Earth’s temperature drops and conditions around the Earth instantly cool. 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 one particular plant, cockroaches are all eaters. This means they can eat most of the food. whether it comes from animals, plants, garbage, and even dirt.
Having a picky appetite, allowed cockroaches to survive the difficult times since the extinction of the dinosaurs and other natural disasters.
“Another helpful trait is that cockroaches lay their eggs in tiny shelters. These egg shells look like dried beans and are called oothecae, which means ‘egg box’. Like cell phone cases, oothecae are tough and protect their contents from physical damage and other threats, such as floods and droughts,” Lovett said.
Even now, cockroach Moderns are small, surviving animals that can live anywhere on land, from the heat of the tropics to some of the coldest parts of the world. Scientists estimate there are more than 4,000 species of cockroaches.
Some of these species like to live with humans and quickly become pests. Once cockroaches settle in a building, it’s hard to get rid of every tiny crevice of these insects and their oothecae.
When large numbers of cockroaches are present in unclean places, they can spread disease. The biggest threat they pose to human health is from the allergens they produce which can trigger asthma attacks and allergic reactions in some people.
Cockroaches are difficult to control because they can fight many chemical insecticides. This power is also related to the same abilities that helped their ancestors outlive the dinosaurs.
However, cockroaches are more than just a pest to control. Researchers study cockroach to understand how they move and how their bodies are designed to get ideas for building better robots.
“As a scientist, I see all insects as inspiration for the beautiful six-legged. Cockroaches have overcome too great an opportunity for dinosaurs. If another meteorite were to hit Earth, I would be more worried about humans than cockroaches,” says Lovett.
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