How Cockroaches Keep Their Predators ‘Guessing’

November 19, 2008

When cockroaches flee their predators, they choose, seemingly at random, amongst one of a handful of preferred escape routes, according to a report published on November 13th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

"By using one of a number of possible trajectories, we think that cockroaches may behave with sufficient unpredictability to avoid the possibility that predators will learn their escape strategy," said Paolo Domenici of CNR-IAMC in Italy. "As we say in our report, the predator is made to guess."

Cockroaches have been studied for many years as a model for understanding animal escape responses, he said. While much is known about the neural circuitry underlying their behavior, it still seemed to Domenici’s team that open questions remained regarding their strategy

Researchers have found that when cockroaches flee their predators, they choose, seemingly at random, amongst one of a handful of preferred escape routes. (Credit: iStockphoto/Marcus Jones)

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