Why do we envy the tops of pigs? Are left-handed people smarter? Do insects die or resist if it rains? You may have already asked such questions during a walk, while taking a shower or during a sleepless night. Every week, Explanation Answers your questions from the most existential to the most whimsical. A question? to write [email protected]
If you’ve ever dealt with cockroaches, you know how nasty they can be. Finally, it is difficult to destroy. Once established in a home, even chemical pesticides are difficult to eradicate. For good reason, in terms of survival, cockroaches are past masters. Do you want an example? They escaped the asteroid that killed them Dinosaurs.
T-rex, velociraptor, alamosaurus… despite their height and certain dangerous nature, the latter could not cope with this enormous extraterrestrial stone that hit the earth. North of the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico, 66 million years ago, caused cataclysmic disasters such as massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Overall, the Three quarters are plants and animals This dark age has disappeared from the earth. So, apart from the irreducible cockroaches. Why?
Survival experts
When a meteor It is ten kilometers in diameter, as it was at the end of the Cretaceous, hitting the ground directly, is not an advantage to thrust like a T-Rex. On the contrary, the small size of the cockroaches was beneficial to them.
Imagine for a moment the consequences of such an asteroid impact. Around, it’s a catamaran. Flames rise, the sky fills with dust, and a powerful breath sweeps away everything in its path. In short, disaster. true What makes you want to hide in a hole while waiting for it to pass. That’s what cockroaches did.
Cockroaches can even protect themselves in the eggs they lay.
Cockroaches have particularly flat bodies (we tested it for you, you don’t need to do this fun experiment) and are able to squeeze into even the tightest and most unlikely of places. Under furniture, between drawers, but also in crevices, a dinosaur-killing asteroid, for example, wreaks havoc. Temporary shelters were especially useful in later moments. When the temperature rise becomes unbearable. Cautiously at the bottom of a crevice, the cockroaches easily took it and rested from the antennae, in the fresh air.
Not only that. Cockroaches can play ostrich, they must eat well. A real headache for all the lucky survivorsAsteroid: Its impact threw so much dust into the sky that it darkened, preventing the sun’s rays from reaching the earth, causing a long and dangerous winter for many nurse plants. What could they have eaten during such a period of scarcity?
Asking a cockroach what it likes to eat is sure to get a laugh. Cockroach eats Everything he finds. Too many plants around? No problem, as a good omnivorous scavenger, leave dead insects, animal hair, grease, nail clippings, feces or cardboard and it will surely enjoy itself. Not a good meal for a penny, but very efficient when it comes to survival at all costs.
Deep down, they took their hardships patiently.
Live Science Media Reports even say that cockroaches can protect themselves in the eggs they lay. Particularly resistant are the so-called utheka, which look like a kind of dry bean, perhaps too large to fit inside. Once inside, floods and droughts are nothing more than cat pee: cockroaches cut off from the world. Well, does an asteroid put the box out?
In good company
Well, if these little bugs escape the drama in vain, life will certainly not be as sweet as described here. The changes are unbelievably brutal, countless species have suddenly become extinct, and these insects may very well be Feeling blue Suddenly they isolate themselves. Fortunately, others, like them, have used their skills or benefited from a hell of a chance to escape the disaster.
Among the lucky ones are many marine species. If the impact of the asteroid had to create a racket to the depths of the oceans, the apocalyptic period does not really correspond to a real famine for some of the creatures that live there. A whole bunch of algae and bacteria Enduring Earth’s extreme conditions, they ensure a constant supply of organic matter for life forms.
Like cockroaches, snakes burrow underground to survive. Deep down, they took their pain patiently, even though their stomachs growled from time to time, they endured long periods without food – up to a year, Accurate Geo. At best, once out of their hole, they discover a desolate world where predators are far fewer than before. A perfect place for peace. Until reaching, almost 66 million years later, us.