For most people (including scientists), cockroaches are evil incarnate; they are not an organism worthy of our curiosity and study. But why do cockroaches exist? What purpose do they serve in the greater scheme of things?
Cockroaches are one of the most reviled and feared insects in the world. There’s a good reason for that: They’re disgusting, creepy, crawly, gross, scary little beasts. Unfortunately for roaches, humans have been conditioned to feel this way about them.
If you see a cockroach skittering across your floor or spot one scuttling away from the light in the corner of your kitchen at night, there’s a good chance you’ll scream like a teenager being stalked by a masked murderer in an old horror movie. You probably won’t think “Wow! How interesting! I wonder why they exist?”
Why Do Cockroaches Exist in Houses
Cockroaches are one of the most reviled and feared insects in the world. There’s a good reason for that: They’re disgusting, creepy, crawly, gross, scary little beasts. Unfortunately for roaches, humans have been conditioned to feel this way about them.
If you see a cockroach skittering across your floor or spot one scuttling away from the light in the corner of your kitchen at night, there’s a good chance you’ll scream like a teenager being stalked by a masked murderer in an old horror movie.
You probably won’t think “Wow! How interesting! I wonder why they exist?” For most people (including scientists), cockroaches are evil incarnate; they are not an organism worthy of our curiosity and study. But why do cockroaches exist? What purpose do they serve in the greater scheme of things?
Why are cockroaches so reviled?
If you’re asking why do cockroaches exist, you might want to ask why people hate them so much. It’s not like they’ve done anything to us beyond being disgusting. Their primary “offense” is being pests. But pests to whom? Well, people who own homes obviously.
There are few things more terrifying to a homeowner than an infestation of cockroaches. But why do cockroaches infest homes? Why are they pests? Well, for one thing, they reproduce at a rapid rate. Unlike many other kinds of pests, like termites, cockroaches can breed without a partner (asexually).
A female cockroach can produce up to 400 offspring each year, which is more than any human can match. And while most of those babies will die, you can see how an infestation could happen quite quickly.
Why do cockroaches exist?
The premise of this article is that cockroaches exist because they serve a purpose. But what is that purpose? What does a cockroach do that makes it so necessary for survival that it has survived for thousands of years? If a roach goes unacknowledged, it might seem trivial to ask why do cockroaches exist.
But, as is often the case, that editor inside your head who is critical of everything you read will ask “Why? Why do they have to exist? Why can’t they just disappear?” This line of questioning is dangerous. It’s like holding a butterfly underwater, asking why it flutters its wings. What good is it? What is its purpose? In many cases, we don’t know. But we do know that it has to exist.
Roach diet and nutrition
Roaches are omnivores, which means that they eat both plants and animals. Roaches like to eat a variety of things, including pretty much anything: leftover food, paper, fabrics, dead bugs, decaying matter, etc. Their favorite food, though, is your junk. If you don’t want roaches in your house, you should know that they love sugar, starch, fat, and protein.
They’re particularly attracted to potato chips and cookies. What you can take from this is that roaches are particularly nutritious. If you’re ever lost in the wilderness and are starving, you might be better off eating a few roaches than hoping you find something better to eat.
Roach benefit to humans
Man, that’s a low blow. If you’re asking why do cockroaches exist, you might want to talk about the benefits they provide to humans.
– Cockroaches can be used in labs to study disease. They’re particularly useful in studying the spread of pathogens because they are easy to grow in large numbers in a controlled environment. They are also easy to kill (unlike humans) if they become infected.
– Cockroaches can be used to find the presence of drugs or poisons in the environment. If you put a roach in a jar with a sticky trap and put a little poison on the trap, the roach will be killed but the trap will remain unharmed. You can then use this to see what poisons are present in the environment.
– Some species of cockroaches can be used for insect eating. Some people actually eat roaches, either for survival or as a delicacy. There is no nutritional value to eating roaches; they’re simply a bizarre novelty.
Roach benefit to the environment
There are some ways in which roaches actually benefit the environment. For one thing, they feed off of decaying matter, which is a natural process of decomposition that would otherwise be much slower.
They also help aerate the soil when they burrow through it. But the main way in which roaches benefit the environment is by serving as a food source for other animals. These are very minor benefits.
Final words: Why do cockroaches exist?
In the end, it’s best not to ask why do cockroaches exist? but why do they have to exist? Cockroaches are a blight on the face of the planet. They’re gross and disgusting, and they breed like rabbits. They are, in short, an infestation waiting to happen.
But they exist because they have to; there will always be pests in the world. There will always be organisms that spread disease and eat food that isn’t theirs. There will always be roaches.
Related
