Cockroaches were more resilient than the dinosaurs killed by the asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula, which shows they would survive human extinction if that came to happen.
These 66-million-year-old survivors are still existing after major changes over multiple millennia. This insect is still around, from the Thunder-lizards to the large mammals in the great Ice Ages.
Cockroaches as Survivors of Cataclysmic Events
Roaches have been around for a long time, even when the Chicxulub impactor catastrophically crashed in the Cretaceous period that ended the age of the dinosaurs, reported Science Alert.
The force created by the impact made catastrophic seismic events that shook the continent and caused cataclysmic volcanic activity everywhere around the globe, as cited in The Conversation.
It was a great impact that caused the death of most flora and fauna, with dinosaurs being its famous victims, but some species of dinosaurs survived and became the birds of today.
However, it is a wonder how the roaches outsurvived while massive reptiles die out fast. One assumption is that a cataclysm is nothing to what is a low-brow adaptation compared to more complex mammals like humans.
Evolutionary Adaptations of Cockroaches
If anyone sees these insects have functional flat bodies, it's not a mistake by such a form means squeezing and hiding all places they can fit in.
In every nook and cranny when the space rock impacted, they could take shelter compared to bigger animals, with no place to hide.
Shelter made all the difference to surviving the massive extinction, the heat of Chicxulub impacts increased the heat of the earth's surface, noted The Smithsonian Magazine.
There was no place to run or hide for other creatures, except these cockroaches went into all nooks and crannies to survive smoldering heat that would have easily led to human extinction.
The deadly meteor strike started a domino effect that would kill many animals and plants. Impact like it sent materials like sulfur into the sky, which blocked the sun, and blotted the atmosphere for a long time, mentioned Live Science.
It lowered global temperatures to near freezing, killing plants that herbivores needed to survive. Many plant eaters died without no food.
Cockroaches Could Survive the Toughest Challenges
Roaches can eat anything, no particular plant or something that can be devoured, as they are omnivorous scavengers. This pest can consume plants and animals, even cardboard, cloth, or feces.
This is not a too picky insect when it comes to food, especially after the long time it took to have animals and plants evolve. Disaster after another, they are still here.
Cockroaches also have their eggs in small protective casings. These egg cartons are called oothecae, which means "egg cases," and they imitate dried beans. Such egg cases can survive famine and drought; they are also robust enough to survive events of the Chicxulub catastrophe.
Today's roach can live anywhere on land and in the hottest Sahara or the cold of the arctic, with as many as 4,000 species, and can even resist pesticides too. These pests are the bane of humans and dirty pathogen spreaders, causing sickness and disease. Some humans get asthma attacks and allergic reactions.
According to the study, these are survivors from the dinosaur era, with only scant survivors that will surpass human extinction. All the characteristics of cockroaches give them the edge in survival, and human extinction is a very plausible outcome, mentioned in the Conversation.
Related Article: Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Caused Global Cataclysm That Killed Land, Sea Creatures for Millennia Indicated in New Discovery
