Importance Of Cockroaches To Humans

Cockroaches are among the many welcome part of human life. Cockroaches has been a normal partner to the human beings since ages and has found its way into various parts of our everyday lives from being pests to becoming an important food source for a section of the world population. Cockroaches are frequently feared and even despised. However, these interesting insects fulfill important roles in our environment as scavengers. This article presents the importance of cockroaches to human health and describes how they help prevent the spread of disease.

Importance Of Cockroaches To Humans

For certain species of cockroach, humans make the perfect roommates. Why do cockroaches like living in our houses? And what do they do when they’re not bugging us?

Although most us think of cockroaches as vermin, they do have a useful ecological role. Cockroaches are professional recyclers, chowing down just about anything, including dead plants and animals, and animal waste.

Their digestive systems are up to the task because they contain bacteria and protozoa that help convert the world’s waste into easily-absorbed nutrients. In the wild, the waste of roaches nourishes growing plants, continuing the cycle.

Day In The Sun

300 million years ago, the Carboniferous period was the cockroaches’ day in the sun so to speak. The whole earth was swampy and hot, with new plants and animals appearing on the scene, creating lots of waste for roaches to recycle. As the earth’s climate changed, becoming colder and dryer, cockroaches survived mainly in the tropics.

A few hundred million years later, ships full of food and humans set out from the tropics, carrying clandestine cockroaches on board. Cockroaches disembarked in ports all over the world, searching for new homes. You might not have compared your house to a Carboniferous swamp, but the similarities wouldn’t escape a cockroach.

Cockroaches And Humans

There are lots of tasty crumbs littering the floor, a nice warm temperature year-round, and endless crannies to hide in. Despite these ideal living conditions, not all wandering cockroaches chose to shack up with humans. Of the 55 species of cockroach in the US, only 12 prefer human dwellings. The rest live outside, recycling without bugging us at all.

Importance Of Cockroaches To Humans

Cockroaches are important to humans because they help break down organic waste into a form that can be used by microorganisms to create soil nutrients. They also feed on plants and insects, which helps keep these populations in check.

Cockroaches live almost everywhere in the world with the exception of Antarctica, Iceland, and some remote islands. These insects are found in deserts, tropical rainforests, grasslands, and even cities.

There are more than 4,000 species of cockroaches. Most of them are brown or black in color with two long antennae on their heads that they use to sense their surroundings. They have wings but don’t fly unless there is an emergency situation such as getting out of danger from predators or other dangers such as fires.

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