People often say that nuclear weapons couldn’t wipe out the cockroach. It’s true that live roaches were found in Nagasaki and Hiroshima after American warplanes used atomic bombs to destroy the cities. Furthermore, a recent Discovery Channel program featured an experiment that verified the insect’s ability to withstand major doses of radiation.
The test used a European cockroach species that thrives in Arizona and other hot climates. It exposed the roaches to three different amounts of radioactivity. The insects couldn’t endure the highest radiation level, but they proved far less vulnerable than humans. Moderate exposure can kill people in minutes; it often takes months to wipe out these tenacious bugs.
Roaches also tolerate most natural disasters. Although many bugs drown in floods and hurricanes, the cockroach frequently survives by holding its breath. It can stay underwater for about 30 minutes, according to PestWorld.org. This insect may endure up to a month of starvation before it dies. Cockroaches devour soap, leather and even glue, so disasters rarely leave them without food.
These bugs even have instincts that help them prepare for natural disasters. They can usually sense an earthquake before it occurs, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. Cockroaches react by seeking safe locations that will protect them from the quake. Nonetheless, there’s at least one disaster that roaches don’t seem to survive.