Cockroaches activate slow twitch muscle fibers only when chewing on tough material such as wood to generate a bite force 50 times stronger than their body weight.
Cockroaches may Have Originated in the New World: Study
Recently, researchers discovered four ancient Ectobius species in the 49-million-year-old Green River Formation near Rifle, Colorado in deposits that are about five million years older than the Baltic amber.
Recently, researchers discovered four ancient Ectobius species in the 49-million-year-old Green River Formation near Rifle, Colorado in deposits that are about five million years older than the Baltic amber.
‘Cockroaches’ have a special set of muscles that make them bite with five times the force than a human can generate with their jaws.
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Lead author Tom Weihmann from the University of Cambridge said, "As insects play a dominant role in many ecosystems, understanding the amount of force that these insects can exert through their mandibles is a pivotal step in better understanding behavioral and ecological processes and enabling bio-inspired engineering."
Weihmann further added, "Insects provide a major part of the faunal biomass in many terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore they are an important food source but also crucial as decomposers of plants and animals. In this way they are crucial for material cycles and the ecological balance. We found that the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, can generate a bite force around 50 times stronger than their own body weight. In relative terms that’s about five times stronger than the force a human can generate with their jaws. Gaining a better understanding of how the delicate structure of the head capsule withstands such powerful forces over an insect’s lifetime could also have interesting applications for bio-inspired engineering."
The study is published in PLOS ONE.
Cockroach Makes a Reappearance in North America
A cockroach, belonging to the genus Ectobius is an example of an invasive organism, and is known to inhabit the region from northernmost Europe to southernmost Africa
A cockroach, belonging to the genus Ectobius is an example of an invasive organism, and is known to inhabit the region from northernmost Europe to southernmost Africa
Cockroaches Could Help Build Better Robots in Future: Researchers
Running cockroaches start to recover from being shoved sideways before their dawdling nervous system kicks in to tell their legs what to do, finds researchers.
Running cockroaches start to recover from being shoved sideways before their dawdling nervous system kicks in to tell their legs what to do, finds researchers.
Huge Cockroach Crawls into Man's Ear!
You may now have to think twice before sleeping without covering your ears!
You may now have to think twice before sleeping without covering your ears!
