Do cockroaches live forever?

The 2008 Pixar movie “Wall-E” portrays the story of a robot that diligently cleans up garbage left behind by humans in a post-apocalyptic world. The futuristic world is devoid of life – no humans, no birds, no plants and no animals, but for one. A cockroach, which keeps Wall-E company. Can cockroach outlive everything on Earth? How did the myth come to be? In a paper titled-The Cockroach Papers: A Compendium of History and Lore, author Richard Schweid tried to trace the origin of the myth. He noted that cockroaches were reported to have survived the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombing. And the notion that cockroaches are immune to nuclear radiation started to spread.

So, what’s the truth? Cockroaches are not immune to radiation but are 10 times more tolerant than humans. They are incredibly adaptive and can survive in any environment because of their eating habit. They can survive without food and water for weeks. They can also live without head for weeks. If our head is cut off, we would die of not being able to breathe, and also bleed to death. But the cockroach has an open circulatory system and simply continues to breathe through its spiracles. The neck would close up and clot. There’s no uncontrolled bleeding. But it would die of starvation as it can’t eat without the head. Yes, cockroaches have been around for 300 million years, outlasting even the dinosaurs, but their lifespan is after all 18 to 24 months.

 

Picture Credit : Google

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