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Cockroach Appreciation 101

Did you know that most of Florida's 27 species of native cockroaches prefer to live outdoors where they actually play important roles in the ecosystem? Roaches sometimes eat other bugs, including termites and are, in turn, eaten by frogs and toads, wild turkeys, opossums, bats, armadillos, spiders, centipedes and mice. Roaches also remove and recycle dead animals and plants, using them as a food source.

Children and adults will find something to appreciate about roaches in the book, The Complete Cockroach by author and roach aficionado David George Gordon. Visit his Web site (http://www.davidgeorgegordon.com/) for information on roaches and many other insects (as well as teacher guides and identification aids). And, have fun at http://yucky.kids.discovery.com/flash/roaches/index.html, which describes itself as "the yuckiest site on the Internet."