rockin'robin

In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries provides expert answers to challenging questions.

The sight of a cockroach makes just about every American shudder. We fear a roach infestation inside the walls. We fear that our house is dirty enough to sustain them. We fear that a cockroach might scurry across our faces at night, or, under cover of darkness, eat flecks of toothpaste off our toothbrushes.

These fears drive us to kill, kill, kill, and wish death upon the whole genus. But what if — through some means more effective than a nuclear bomb — cockroaches really were wiped out? Could we then rest easy? Or do we, in fact, somehow need these monstrous vermin?

We put the question to Srini Kambhampati, professor and chair of the biology department at the University of Texas at Tyler, and a world expert on cockroaches. Turns out, the sudden disappearance of Earth's 5,000 to 10,000 cockroach species would have ramifications far beyond your filthy apartment. [Chocolate Allergies Linked to Cockroach Parts]

Worldwide, the insects are a significant food source for many birds and small insectivorous mammals, such as mice and rats. (Even humans eat them in some parts of the world.) None of these animals rely solely on cockroaches for food, Kambhampati said, so they probably wouldn't go extinct, but their numbers would drop. Parasitic wasps, which specialize in parasitizing cockroach eggs, do rely entirely on the cockroach. "These would almost certainly become extinct," Kambhampati told Life's Little Mysteries.

If you can't get very worked up about a dent in the rat population or the extinction of something called a parasitic wasp, consider this: A dearth of mice and rats would, in turn, impact the species that prey on them, including cats (both wild and domestic), coyotes, wolves and many reptiles, as well as eagles and other birds of prey. Many of those animals, we're quite fond of.

Furthermore, the disappearance of cockroaches would mess with something truly vital for us all, called the nitrogen cycle.

"Most cockroaches feed on decaying organic matter, which traps a lot of nitrogen," Kambhampati said. "Cockroach feeding has the effect of releasing that nitrogen (in their feces) which then gets into the soil and is used by plants. In other words, extinction of cockroaches would have a big impact on forest health and therefore indirectly on all the species that live there."

In short, we really, really need cockroach poop.

What If There Were No Cockroaches? - Yahoo! News

Deafness

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on AllDeaf.com

MsSaraB

:: sigh :: I wish we didn't need them. I am absolutely terrified of them. It's irrational, I know.

__________________
-Sara B
.

caz12

i feel that way about spiders shudder shudder but they here for a reason..i understand america got lots of them like bed bugs please keep them,the uk no wants them

Frisky Feline

Hope bed bugs go away but rather them to be decayed disappeared!

caz12

yes i agree

Marie579

Soooooo, essentially we wouldn't survive if we nuked all the of the cockroaches off the earth??? Well that sucks!!! (interesting articke )

Sares

in short, gross. I have to live with them but at least I do not have to feed them.

__________________


I always enjoy a quiet evening at home.

authentic

Cockroaches are your last meal if there's no food on this planet.

__________________

Sares

how do you like yours fried or baked?

__________________


I always enjoy a quiet evening at home.

authentic

fried with maple sugar

__________________

PowerON

I learn that flour beetles survive far better in nuclear blast than cockroach.

__________________
• [Illustrator.Blog-alloon.com] •
Don't shoot me! I'm only blogger!

Sares

Stir Fried Cockroach
Ingredients:

4 or 5 cockroaches (recently frozen)
1 onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 tbs salt
1 tbs corn starch
4 tbs cooking oil
2 cups rice

Method:

1. Remove and discard the solid wing covering flaps and all legs of the cockroach.
2. Put the whole cockroaches into a pot of boiling oil and quickly fry for 15 seconds.
3. Heat a wok until hot. Add four spoons of oil and put all vegetables into it to stir fry for three minutes.
4. Put the half cooked cockroaches in to the wok and add salt and corn starch.
5. Serve on or with a bed of white rice. (Ironic to serve them back on where you may have found them to start with)

__________________


I always enjoy a quiet evening at home.

authentic

You forgot one more thing; BEER.

__________________

Sares

Honey! there is not enough beer to get me to eat that.

__________________


I always enjoy a quiet evening at home.

Marie579

Just....lost ......all.....my......breakfast....from the last 3 years!!!

Sares

Have to have Cockroaches or the Mexicans would not have music "La Cucaracha" You write about what you have I guess.

__________________


I always enjoy a quiet evening at home.

Marie579

In high school we had a crazy guy eat/maybe just put in his mouth a cockroachflr $8, anyway we were freaking out about it in class. We had an exchange student from Brazil who wasn't understanding. I don't know we left it up to our friend crystal to explain, cause finally after pointing in her mouth and out of desperation she broke into that song!! The p.e. class rolled into laughter!!!

Mimsy

I'd rather kill off all the cockroaches and have the world end than live with those disgusting things. Just the thought of them makes my skin crawl.

caz12

they not hurt you some even whistle...i understand you have more in the states plus bed bugs,dont want be rude but thought it was filth that cause to have so many