Creature chosen: A Cockroach
Scientific Name : Blattodea


Sources of information used: www.pestworld.com
www.westernpest.com
www.newworldencyclopedia.org
www.bbc.com
www.orkin.com
www.cockroachfacts.com
www.peststragies.com

Credits: I would like to thank my mother for helping me choose appropriate pictures for each header. I would also like to thank Miss Cynnie and Miss Jigna for planning the information report activity. I really enjoyed it and learned how to use kiddle.co and other websites to search my information.

Type of creature?
Cockroaches are generalized insects,with few special adaptations and may be among the most primitive living insects.They have been around since the time of dinosaurs.There are approximately 4,000 living species of cockroaches in the world.
Cockroaches, are anthropods and they don’t have a spine, making them invertebrates.Cockroaches are able to go for long without sustenance because they are cold-blooded insects.

What do cockroaches look like?
Cockroaches have flat, oval-shaped bodies. The bodies of cockroaches are oily to the touch and may be cool or warm,depending on the temperature of their environment. The head of a cockroach is small and is covered by a sheild like pronotum. A cockroaches mouth is directed down and backwards.Most of them are reddish brown in colour but they look whitish for a short period of time just after molting.

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Where do they live?
Cockroaches prefer to live in warm, dark, wet areas like sewers and basements. They often enter structures through drains and pipes. They can be found in homes, they are also common in larger commercial buildings such as restaurants, grocery stores and hospitals.

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What do cockroaches eat?
Cockroaches are omnivorous and considered opportunistic feeders, which means they will eat anything- wherever and whenever they find it.They will eat creatures which are slow and easy to catch like bed bugs. Cockroaches enjoy delicious human foods to pet food, from waste materials to dead plants or animals and all these can be easily found at your home. 

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How do cockroaches keep themselves safe?
Cockroaches are built to play the defense. They have an exoskeleton to protect their soft bodies. The exoskeleton is not only rigid but flexible to allow the cockroaches to crawl in tiny crevices. Their legs are built for running and they can run at top speed at 200 miles per hour.

Life Cycle of a Cockroach 
The life cycle of a cockroach has three stages : egg , nymph and adult. Cockroaches are oviparous as they lay eggs to give birth to young ones.Each cockroach lays 10-50 eggs in warm and humid spots. The egg hatches at specific conditions to give birth to young ones. Next is the nymphal stage. Nymphs undergo several molts growing a little each time they shed their skin.  After the final molt, the nymph enters  the adult stage and reproduces to start the cycle all over again.

Some interesting facts about cockroaches:
*Acockroach can live almost a month without food.
*A cockroach can live about two weeks without water.
*A cockroach can live for up to one week without its head.
*Cockroaches can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes.
*Cockroaches can run up to 3 miles per hour.

Importance Of Cockroaches

1. Cockroaches are oppurtunistic feeders which means they eat just about anything like dead plants and animals, garbage etc. So they help to keep the environment clean.

2. Cockroaches feed on decaying organic matter like leaf litter which traps nitrogen. Cockroaches release the nitrogen through their poop into the soil and it is used by plants as it helps them to grow.

How can we co-exist with cockroaches?

We can coexist with cockroaches by :
*Not killing them when we see them at home or outside. We can simply pick them up with tissues or paper and throw them outside.
*We can use herbal sprays which donot kill cockroaches as it doesn’t attack their nervous system. The cockroaches just donot come up on surfaces because of the smell.