How Do Pests Survive? 4 Pests and Incredible Survival Facts

Pests can be a poor addition to the home or office, but let’s face it they are pretty fascinating. According to Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Entomology, there are an estimated 30 million species of insect living today.

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Pests can be a poor addition to the home or office, but let’s face it they are pretty fascinating. According to Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Entomology, there are an estimated 30 million species of insect living today. At a given time there are an estimated 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) insects alive. That’s 19 zeros! The United States alone is said to contain 91,000 described species. You might be asking how do insects survive so well? Why are there so many pests?

There are several factors that have lead to the survival of insects and pests including the capability of flight, adaptive environment ability and remarkable fertility. Here a few insects and some incredible facts about their survival.

Source: Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Entomology

Pest Reproduction:

When pests breed and reproduce, they do it in very large quantities. No pest reproduces as quickly as the East African Termite. It has been recorded that the East African Termite queen can lay an egg every two seconds for a total of 43,000 eggs per day. That is close to 16 million eggs per year!

Termites in the Pacific Northwest such as the Dampwood and Subterranean termites may not breed as fast as the East African Termite, but they can cause serious damage to wooden objects. For more information on how to rid your home of these termites in the Pacific Northwest, contact Alpha Ecological Pest Control.

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Bees stay insulated by their furriness. When temperatures drop in the winter, bees will hug each other to stay a bit warmer. Their winter warmth doesn’t stop there, because these bees make sure and exercise in order to keep their body temperatures up. They do this by vibrating their wing muscles, which are the biggest muscles in their body.

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Remember in the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, when Ichabod Crane was chased through the forest by the Headless Horsemen? If you have extreme fear of cockroaches you might find yourself running from a very alive headless insect. We assure you this is a real thing. The cockroach can live for a week without its head! Since the cockroach body has an open circulatory system, it will not bleed out. The cockroach breathes through spiracles around its body, so it does not need its head other than to eat and drink. Since the cockroach can live for a week without food or water, it will go on about its business headless.

Cockroaches generally infest kitchens and bathrooms or anywhere that contains food and water. German Cockroaches will feed on virtually any type of food, contaminating and spreading disease. For information on how to stop your cockroach infestation before it gets worse, call Alpha Ecological Pest Control.

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Could you imagine not eating for 400 days? Yeah, neither can we. But Bed Bugs can and they do! Bed bugs can go without feeding for over a year at low temperatures. Under normal conditions, adult bed bugs will only live for about ten to eleven months. Still, way too long. If you suspect bed bugs may be extending their stay in your home or mattress, give Alpha Ecological Pest Control.