News Animals

Cockroaches that eat each other’s wings turn into a fierce fighting force

Pairs that indulge in a little cannibalism team up to attack would-be mates and intruders

This ink drawing shows two cockroaches engaging in a mating behavior: One is gnawing the other's wings off.

Haruka Osaki, a talented artist as well as scientist, drew these two roaches in the process of “gently” eating each other’s wings off, a task that can occur at any point during the mating and pairing process.

Haruka Osaki, H. Osaki and E. Kasuya/Ethology 2021

By Bethany Brookshire

This is a human-written story voiced by AI.