Nature & Environment

Cockroaches possess a 'turbocharged' bite

By T.K. Randall
November 16, 2015 ·  8 comments

You don't want to get bitten by one of these. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Thomas Quine If the mere sight of one of these six-legged critters scuttling across your kitchen floor is enough to give you nightmares then be thankful that you aren't at the receiving end of its super-strong bite.

According to researchers at Cambridge University, the common American cockroach is capable of 'turbocharging' its mandibles when attempting to chew through tough materials."Ours is the first study to measure the bite forces of ordinary insects, and we found that the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, can generate a bite force around 50 times stronger than their own body weight," said study leader Dr Tom Weihmann.

Relatively speaking, this means that they can bite with a force five times that of a human being.

"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 behavioural and ecological processes and enabling bio-inspired engineering," said Dr Weihmann.

Source: Scotsman | Comments (8)

Tags: Cockroach