If cockroaches we see living in our kitchens, bathrooms, and the sewers are such hardy creatures, why don’t we see large populations of them in gardens and woods where there’s plenty of moisture and food?
In: Biology
Birds and spiders. They also face competition from grasshoppers and crickets and other insects.
They just live out of spite for men, they don’t care about thriving in nature, the will to their own existence doesn’t drive them
I do. They collect in trees, bushes, and they flood inside when long grass is cut nearby (I live near hay pastures).
We call them “wood roaches”.
A major misconception I’m seeing in this thread are people conflating the pest species of Cockroaches (especially German cockroaches) with cockroaches in general.
German cockroaches mostly like to live in human habitations. Despite the name, they’re likely originally from southeast Asia, and don’t do well in cold environments outside of our homes.
However, there are over 4,600 species of cockroach, not counting termites (which are actually just social cockroaches). Only thirty of those like living in human habitations, and only four are considered major pests. Most cockroaches are nocturnal and really don’t like bright light, so you won’t see them during the day. At night, they’ll also shy away from large animals like humans, since lots of animals like to eat them.
Cockroaches are fairly vital detritivores. They eat decaying animal and plant matter, helping return those nutrients to the ecosystem and keeping dead stuff from piling up. Think of them as tiny garbagemen.
You don’t see them in the woods as you aren’t looking hard enough. They are EVERYWHERE in the woods. Usually under debris, leaves, logs or other other dark, moist areas.
Not sure where you live, OP, but in the US South there are cockroaches on the sidewalks all the time.
Why would they live outside in a garden or in the woods where lots of animals would eat them when they can live in your house free and easy?
Biologist here. There are a lot of cockroach species that prefer wild areas and can’t even survive in most human homes. Some pest species can be abundant in wild areas too. Last year, I did a research project looking for shrews using pitfall traps in a desert area and sometimes we would catch hundreds of German cockroaches in a small bucket in a riparian area set out overnight. Probably would never ever see them because they are secretive, hide under leaves, and they are nocturnal.
They are not particularly hardy. The “after a nuclear war, only cockroaches would be left” meme is utter nonsense because many other insects, like houseflies, are more radiation resistant and the cockroaches we see depend on humans for their food and water.
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