Did you Know Cockroaches can live for several weeks with their heads cut off?

Cockroaches are one of the most enviable species on Earth, thanks to their ability to survive some of the most life-threatening situations and come out just fine. For example, a cockroach possesses a higher immunity against radiation than humans, (although it cannot survive a nuclear explosion), it can hold its breath for as long as 40 minutes, and it can last for weeks without food.

However, the most amazing thing of all…Cockroaches can live for several weeks with their heads cut off, because their brains are located inside their body. They would eventually die from being unable to eat.

Respiration in cockroaches

Unlike humans, roaches do not need their heads to breathe in and out, as they do not rely on a single organ to serve that purpose. They inhale and exhale through many pipes that are connected to holes (called spiracles) spread along the length of their bodies.

So, even without its head, a cockroach has little or no problem as far as its breathing is concerned.

How does a decapitated cockroach live without its brain and food?

A cockroach’s brain, as you can imagine, is not nearly as complex as ours. A roach brain consists of clumps of ganglia – nerve tissue agglomerations – that help it in performing the most basic sensory functions (like reacting to a flash of light, a touch etc.). A no-brain scenario, therefore, is not that big of an issue as far as sheer survival (in suitable conditions) for a few weeks is concerned.

As for the food, roaches are cold-blooded creatures, which means that unlike their hot-blooded counterparts (e.g., humans), they can last for days on a single meal they had on a good food-finding day. Moreover, in the absence of their head, they couldn’t possibly be very physically active, so their energy would be conserved too, helping them last for weeks without food.