Madagascar Hisssssing Cockroach

          I think my teacher might be dancing on the border of the bizarre town called Insanity. Why is he dancing, you might ask. One of the many requirements for entrance to this psychedelic town is to dance like there is no tomorrow to the border of Insanity.  After passing with flying colors (yes, colors fly in Insanity), Dr. Van Zandt felt he had to impress the inhabitants of the town, so he went to class the following day with a cage full of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches.

 

            Apparently the voice in the doctor's believed it would be a good idea to display these relatively large roaches to his winter entomology class. Normally, a presentation like this would be encouraged by the students, but my class had several squeamish students who loathed cockroaches. These students could hardly look at these greasy, creepy crawlies. 

            A majority of the class soon forgot their aversion to these creatures as the doctor continued with his presentation. These roaches were revealed to be herbivorous and guaranteed not to bite the holder of the roach unless it was excessively harassed. Students (including myself) held the roaches for a short time. It surprised me how lethargic the roaches were behaving. All of the roaches I had encountered before class had scurried away at alarming speeds. 

             Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches getting their name from the exhalation of air. They do not hiss all the time. Hissing is used mainly as part of their mating ritual. Horns can be found on males. These horns are used to fight others for territory and mates.Males will hiss as a sign of dominance announcing their victory. 

              When the roach was crawling on me, I noticed how the barbs on its legs served as an adhesive to my jacket. These barbs help the roaches climb different structures such as trees and rocks as they search for food. I was slightly anxious taking it off my jacket in fear of injuring the roach, but I managed. 

               In the end, I was educated on a fascinating not to mention famous insect. The experience has relieved some of the anxiety when picking up an insect. I recognize that these cockroaches were meant to live in hotter climates, so their energy levels were lower than normal. I also recognize that these insects were clean. Regardless of their unreallistic traits, I readily await the next time I see a cockroach; not for the desire to destroy its exoskeleton, but for educational purposes.

              Unfortunately, the inhabitants of Insanity remained unimpressed with Dr. Van Zandt's efforts to find residency. He simply exhibited too much evidence that he was in control of his faculties and his behavior was far too rational. He immediately got over the rejection and continued to teach at BSC.