The science of nature holds that cockroaches are an infectious breed of insects. But could there be benefits of cockroaches to humans? Despite the identity of roaches as ecological infectious vermin, they could well make accommodatable roommates.
According to The Rainforest Site, only 99.7 percent of the various 4,500 species of cockroaches live away from humans. Think of it, why do the remaining percentage of cockroaches find your home comforting?
Could it be because your home is chill and mostly dark? Well, the food crumbs you litter around are a common reason why you have the roaches lurking around, nesting in walls, and damaging surfaces. Somehow, nonetheless, your presence instills fear in roaches, so, they almost do not feel comfortable nesting in your house.
In this research, you will discover the economic importance of cockroaches to man. Maybe you never thought the roaches to be eco-friendly previously.
Let’s learn!
7 benefits of cockroaches to humans:
1. Recycling Nature
The Indiana Public Media states that a cockroach is a typical “professional recycler”.
They can eat up almost anything including, dead animals, dead plants, and animal wastes. The food crumbs you litter on the floor is not an exception, especially if the cockroach(es) nests permanently in your home.
Cockroaches can take on anything particle – living or non-living, because of the nature of their digestive systems.
A typical digestive system housed by a cockroach contains protozoa and bacteria that seamlessly digest wastes into absorbable nutrients.
Since the cockroach finds comfort in your home, science proves that its waste aids your garden or any plant around to grow.
2. Food Source to Predators
Cockroaches are a food source to some animals that you domesticate, but that are natural predators to cockroaches. Thus, cockroaches make up the animal food chain.
Since we are focusing on the benefits of cockroaches in the house, we would not discuss it with regards to the wild.
Let’s assume that you house pets such as a cat or a bird. When the cat or the bird hunts a cockroach they sight, they may eat it if they are not trained to resist the urge of eating insects. Even a dog would eat a cockroach it sights but may become allergic to the toxin from the cockroach.
If your dog eats a cockroach, the dog would not be poisoned if the cockroach is healthy according to Cuteness. Nevertheless, contact the vet early.
3. Natural Germ Killers
A typical cockroach breeds and survives in an unkempt and filthy environment. However, there is hardly a chance that it gets sick. But can a cockroach get sick from the condition of its nasty habitat?
Not much researches have been conducted, but a few claims have it that a cockroach can get sick, probably when there is an overload in its bacterial content.
Scientists discovered cockroaches to possess a unique source of antibiotics. There are researches underway to uncover the possible applications of cockroach antibiotics to humans.
A cockroach, regardless of its pathogenic nature, is believed to be capable of fighting staph infections, including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) that resists conventional antibiotics.
4. Robotic Functions
The efficiency in the movement of cockroaches encourages scientists to study their forms and functions in developing robotic, endoscopic, and prosthetic applications.
These researches are focused on creating alternatives for people that lose their limbs to accidents.
Moreover, an article on ScienceDaily sourcing Georgia Institute of Technology indicates how scurrying cockroaches help researchers to give balance to staggering robots.
For researchers to give walking and running finesse to robots, they study how roaches coordinate leg movements via signals from centralized systems. In this manner, researchers can perfect the movement of robots.
5. Cure for Health Problems
The irritating cockroaches you find wobbling aimlessly serve as a cure to burns. BBC reports that hospitals in China, for instance, use creams from powdered cockroaches to treat burns. Sometimes, roach syrup is administered to patients to relieve the symptoms of gastroenteritis.
Admittedly, dried cockroaches are a commodity in China already. As a result, entrepreneurs such as Wang Fuming own cockroach farms in underground bunkers for providing dried cockroaches strictly.
6. Source of Food for Humans
While a roach irritates you, it makes a nutritious meal for another man. This reality affirms Titus Carus’ saying that “one man’s food is another man’s poison.” For cockroaches to be beneficial to humans in the form of food, they must be healthy of course.
In China, cockroaches, especially the dried cockroaches, make a good delicacy. A Chinese man would fry the bug at least twice in hot oil to obtain crispy cheesy chewing.
Cockroaches are not as dangerous as portrayed when consumed. Instead, it benefits the body with the needed nutrients, and roach milk is a good source of protein crystals.
7. Source of Income
If you need a good business idea, you may want to consider venturing into cockroach retail.
At least, you would have to establish a business in a top country like China for more sales.
According to an Asian report on Gulf News, Li Bingcai, a cockroach farmer, makes nearly $13,000 (about 90,000 Yuan) from selling dried cockroaches to a pharmaceutical factory. He also retails the insects to farms and medicine factories directly.
Half a kilo of dehydrated cockroaches could cost between $14 and $90. Imagine the market value of more kilos in the market.
You should reconsider smashing every cockroach your spot because you could earn from it.
