# Ugh! Do cockroaches have ANY positive, useful purposes at all? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2021, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905 "2021-12-11T23:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/22 "2021-12-12T23:00:46Z")
I believe that [cockroaches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach) (nice name, when you think of it - but I disgress…) are evolutionary purposeful where they originally evolved. They fitted right in in an environement they had magnificently adapted to: they reproduced just fine, only to be eaten by the right predators at just the right rythm. They did so for 300 - 350 million years, branching out into 4,600 species (of which only 30 are considered pests). But then humanity came along and gave them a niche to become a most succesful invasive species, and they used it well (so far). It is us who should not have taken them out of their original habitats. Don’t blame them for making the best out of our misguided actions. Spare a kind thought for them: when we disappear from this planet they (the pests, anyway, 30 out of 4,600) will find themselves in a lot of places they cannot survive any longer without our central heating and the garbage we leave lying around. I am almost as sad for them as for us. And without them we would not have the song [la cucaracha](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRxMOMQqPv4). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/23 "2021-12-12T23:18:41Z")
Do humans? ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/24 "2021-12-12T23:42:27Z")
> **[What Eats Cockroaches | List of 10 Cockroach Predators](https://thecockroachguide.com/what-eats-cockroaches/)** > > Have you ever questioned what eats cockroaches? Who are the natural predators of these pests? Click here to find out 10 predators of roaches. _Though these species are hated by many, but, still can be a proper food for some animals; the animals that prey regularly on cockroaches are:_ _Toads and frogs_ _Lizards_ _Certain large species of beetles_ _Certain kinds of parasitoid wasps_ _Entomopathogenic fungi_ Which begs the question, does Entomopathogenic fungi have any positive, useful purposes at all? 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/25 "2021-12-12T23:50:16Z")
Wasn’t there a bit in a Discworld book about the creation of cockroaches. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/26 "2021-12-12T23:54:09Z")
> [@NetTrekker](#): > > Which begs the question, does Entomopathogenic fungi have any positive, useful purposes at all? Yup. They help keep insect populations in balance. (And they presumably make money for [all the people selling them](https://www.google.com/search?q=Entomopathogenic+fungi&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCw7ydut_0AhXCjIkEHWJ7CkQQsxh6BAgNEAI).) Everything eats something else. And everything needs to be eaten by something else. That’s how the system works. When a living thing moves or gets moved to someplace where nothing eats it, it’ll do damage until something eventually brings it back into balance. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/27 "2021-12-13T00:06:21Z")
(Mandatory mention of the Smothers Brothers comedy classic “Pancho Villa Without A Shirt”). _La cucaracha, la cucaracha, Marijuana que fumar_ ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/28 "2021-12-13T00:27:14Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > (And they presumably make money for [all the people selling them](https://www.google.com/search?q=Entomopathogenic+fungi&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCw7ydut_0AhXCjIkEHWJ7CkQQsxh6BAgNEAI).) That reminds me: one time I met an entomology student who made a few bucks breeding and selling pet cockroaches. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/29 "2021-12-13T00:32:23Z")
…”So I bought a Roach Motel to help with the problem. At first, I was excited, because I had never been a property owner before…” ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/30 "2021-12-13T00:35:37Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Well, they weren’t _invited_ onto the Ark, but they sneaked about while Noah wasn’t looking. The rest is history. Little known fact - they were the one critter that survived the flood that was NOT on the Ark. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/31 "2021-12-13T00:52:18Z")
Some entertainment value: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aPML0-Iehpw/maxresdefault.jpg "Between Chip Gaines and a $50 bet the cockroach has no chance.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPML0-Iehpw) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/32 "2021-12-13T13:16:54Z")
I worked for awhile as a cook at a restaurant in downtown Detroit while putting myself through college. I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise to anybody, but every restaurant in a big city has cockroaches, no matter how fancy and scrupulously clean it’s kept. The owner of this restaurant was very scrupulous about cleanliness and cockroach amelioration. I also did some cleanup, mopping and such, and the owner was going over with me the importance of making sure everything is thoroughly and completely cleaned up, even something as seemingly innocuous as a bit of spilled drink in a corner. “a cockroach can survive for a year on a single spilled drop of beer” he said. I replied “yeah, but it would probably go on a bender and finish the whole thing in one night”. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/33 "2021-12-13T13:49:27Z")
Perhaps cockroaches will be evolve into the species that finally colonises the universe and become so powerful they fight entropy itself and fill the stars with life, joy, happiness, and meaning. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/34 "2021-12-13T13:53:09Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I believe that [cockroaches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach) (nice name, when you think of it From the order Dictyoptera 😄 ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/35 "2021-12-13T14:31:32Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > They’re literally in the walls and almost impossible to completely eradicate short of a nuclear weapon. I was of the impression that even a nuclear weapon wouldn’t kill them. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/36 "2021-12-13T14:50:46Z")
To exterminate a human: 10 Gy To exterminate a roach: 1000 Gy ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/37 "2021-12-13T15:11:15Z")
False eyelashes. [![](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/clipimage-61b7064845c31__700.jpg) ](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/clipimage-61b7064845c31__700.jpg) > **[40 Of The Most Questionable Handmade Items That Made People Ask “DIY WHY”...](https://www.boredpanda.com/diy-why-projects/)** > > Just because you can doesn't mean you should. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/38 "2021-12-13T16:16:44Z")
Nitpick: from the order [Blattodea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blattodea), _super_order [Dictyoptera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictyoptera). Nits, BTW, are the egg cases of head lice, from the family [Pediculidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pediculus). Before somebody asks, they are good for picking, evidently 😏. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/39 "2021-12-13T16:29:25Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I will say that in certain cities with dense clusters of ancient brick apartment buildings (like say NYC or Philadelphia) you could keep the most antiseptic home short of a hard vacuum and you can still get visited by our scurrying little friends. They’re literally in the walls and almost impossible to completely eradicate short of a nuclear weapon. Or maybe a neighboring unit is infested. Like a neighbor’s kitchen so covered in grease that it’s basically one big roach bait. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/40 "2021-12-13T16:31:29Z")
They taste like chicken. Perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905/41 "2021-12-13T18:55:34Z")
AIUI, the resistance to radiation thing is a bit of a myth. In general the field strength an organism can tolerate is strongly inversely correlated to volume, for obvious reasons. Cockroaches being so much smaller than us can tolerate much stronger fields, but they are beaten by many slimmer bugs. Of course they are a highly adaptable species and can live in many kinds of shelter, so it’s hard to imagine a scenario where they die out without planet earth being essentially sterilized. However the same is pretty true of humans. Love us or hate is, there are millions of us under every rock, and we’re adaptable as fuck. It’s not gonna be anywhere near as easy to eradicate us as movies imply. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-cockroaches-have-any-positive-useful-purposes-at-all/955905.md?page=3)