The Roach That Lived

A lot of people think roaches are icky, but cockroaches are some of the most incredibly well-designed animals on the planet. They've been around for over 400 million years, and they're still going strong.

Roaches are bullet-proof, they can live through anything, right?
Sadly, that's simply not the case for some species. Just inside the entrance of a cave in the wilds of Africa, a population of cockroaches was found, living amid the bat guano. Close enough to the cave entrance to still see the light, these roaches didn't develop the features of animals that live strictly in caves--they still had good eyes, and fully developed wings.
They lived no where else on Earth.

You may have noticed the past-tense here. You see, in 2010, that cave was slated to become part of a Bauxite mining operation. It's believed that their habitat has been entirely destroyed by now, and they are presumed extinct in the wild.

But one man didn't want to see this unassuming little animal go the way of the Dodo, so soon after it was found--the very man who discovered it. He collected a number of the roaches, and took them into his care. He named them, Simandoa conserfariam.

The species name means "To Preserve In Many Places".

And so he did--the roaches were given in groups to others with an interest in breeding and keeping insects. The roaches appear to love carrots...a lucky break, since bat guano isn't always easy to come by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAmY0FtXWDs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAmY0FtXWDs

Sure, they are roaches...but aren't they rather pretty?