Cats are high - maintenance creatures , as anyone who ’s witnessed their fascinatingly haunting grooming procedure can attest . ( hairball are a further testament to the fact . ) Such fastidious self - guardianship is reflected in human routine — brush teeth , combing hair , clipping nails — but also in the habit of scuttling , riot - inducing roach . There ’s a sure irony in the hygienical customs of insects whose comportment often connotes filth , so why is it that roach dedicate so much of their creepy - crawly survive to cleanliness ?
With antenna that can grow as long as its entire 1.5 to 2 - inch trunk , theAmerican cockroachhas plenty of Earth’s surface area to maintain , which it does by bringing antennae to its mouth with a foreleg and clean each section . research worker from North Carolina State Universityexploredthe single-valued function of the worm ’s fastidious self - grooming , as well as what kind of sludge it was go so endlessly to keep at bay . Experiments showed that not only were the roaches removing extraneous chemical meaning from their antennae , but also excess dermal hydrocarbons — content secreted by the creature themselves to preclude water loss . Other insect species with alike grooming habits — carpenter ants , houseflies , and German cockroach — also come along to contract ego - caution as a means of mold cuticular hydrocarbons to a particular level .
Bykeeping the poreson their antennae open to environmental stimuli , cockroaches are able-bodied to “ sense ” odorants around them , including a sex pheromone compound known to aid them in locating a suitable mate . Just like humans , insect keep it unclouded for the interest of attracting the diametrical gender .
Will this knowledge help tone down the gross - out factor of those bantam household pests ? Probably not , but at least you’re able to rest assure that your undesirable guests are render to stay clean — if only to impress the ladies .
