Cockroaches to be added to Red Book in Russia

Cockroaches are disappearing from Russian houses. However, the scientists warn: cockroaches are needed back, otherwise the food chain will be disturbed and there will be nobody to consume people’s wastes. So the members of the Ilmen sanctuary proposed to take them into Red Book.

Photo: Cockroaches to be added to Red Book in Russia

The head member of Ilmen State Sanctuary, an honored ecologist of Russia, Alexander Logunov suggested to address the authorities of the Chelyabinsk region with the proposal to add into regional Red Book 3 types of cockroaches: black, steppe and Lapland.

‘Lapland and black types of cockroaches are found in wild nature only’, -says Logunov. ‘Cockroaches used to inhabit many houses until recently. Black cockroach was highly respected in Russia. Its presence was considered a sign of wealth. There are even a lot of proverbs connected with black cockroach’.

Why did cockroaches disappear?

When people moved to different places, they accidentally took cockroaches with them. This is how this specie spread in Ural, Siberia and Far East. In the middle of the 20^th century black cockroaches disappeared and red ones stepped in. They simply ate black species. To destroy specie, red cockroaches didn’t need any chemicals. So, Russian cockroaches lost the battle against ‘foreign invaders’.

Red cockroach came to Russia in the 18^th century during Russian- Prussian war, when Russian soldiers forayed and took home war trophies and other Prussian things. Among them were cockroaches. Since then red cockroaches are called ‘Prussian’. In Prussia, on the contrary, such insect is called ‘Russian’.

However, its ‘reign’ wasn’t long-lasting. Nobody can say exactly, why it started to disappear. ‘They say, computers and cell phones might have influence them, but that’s just predictions’, - says Alexander Logunov. But still there is nothing good about the fact that they disappeared. For example, there are no birds in your yard. On the one hand, it’s good, because no one dabs the apples. But what if they don’t dab the apples because they are poisonous? The same with cockroaches: is the habit, where they can’t exist, useful for us?

Why did “red” and “Prussian” cockroaches leave?

There are several reasons:

1. Food contains too many genetically modified elements. When these elements got into the cockroaches with food wastes, insects died off.

2. Modern plastic constructional materials and fabrics are unfavorable for living creatures.

3. High frequency mobile communication is to be blamed for cockroaches’ disappearance.

4. The ozone layer disturbance changed their biorhythm.

The food chain describes the feeding relationships between species within an ecosystem. For example, grass is nutrition for cows that, in turn, serve as food for a human.

Source: newsru.com

Translated by Lena Popina