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About 400 million years old, petrified specimens are being stored in museums, billions of living ones dwell in all the cosy warm recesses of this world. Presumably they even exist on other planets of this universe. Some 3500 varieties are known and they live on quite all kinds of food: garbage, cables, leather, textile, glue, soap, paper and on and off also on humans...; tales about teeming corpses or entire sofas, with lonesome elderly ladies and gentlemen whom no one ever misses. To devour a fellow creature that comes along when nothing else seems to be eatable, is not unusual. However Periplaneta goes easily a whole month on zero diet and without water for three months before it even considers to depart this life.
The creatures are extensively fertile. The story goes, that these disgusting animals only lay eggs, after they have been finally brought down. This takes a lot of energy when fighting the nausea and considerable cour-age, alertness and a heavy object to throw with viciousness. Only then, when the crunching remains mixed with the yellow liquid that has been squeezed out of this horrid creature lie in the middle of the floor, it lays a heap of eggs. Cocktoaches are even capable of performing this so vital act in a state of headlessness: the body just keeps moving on. ( what do you need a head for: it?s only reproduction!). In this case only matches and a bottle of petrol can be of any help. This is not to be recommended when the number of creatures exceeds the number of one. In that case: Move Out! It is widely known that one cockroach serves as indicator for at least another 200. What a comforting idea!
In Mexico, where they grow to the considerable sizeof just about 10cm, someone told me the story of how his disgust of cucarachas had been knocked out.His dad forced him to trample barefoot over a teaming heap of the just mentioned to finish them off. Evidently, as a true macho... since then cockroaches are peanuts for him, he?s got other damages instead.
One of the most interesting professions must be that of the (..........) - time and again new, exiting adven-turous encounters, and thrills occasionally also of a physical kind. He?s never unemployed and always up to date on all kinds of chemical mixes and probably never overweight as ones appetite is spoilt constantly. By the way, once you?ve cracked the shell the cockroach makes a healthy snack rich in proteins. The future might bring crunchy cockroaches to go with a good movie instead of the the old popcorn. Not unlikely that somewhere in the world this is already the most commonest thing and belongs to those things that tough guys test their courage on, like in these parts they are used to do with worms (do report on any tasty experiment!).
In short, they?re to be find almost everywhere, in the gutter or in high society. They are supposed to pre-sent themselves in smoking in the latter place, after all they?ve got style. And even when Gloria G. won?t be singing it anymore; THEY WILL SURVIVE.
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