Cockroaches Evolving To Avoid Roach Motels

sciencehabit writes "Only a few years after roach motels were introduced in the 1980s, they lost their allure for an increasing number of German cockroaches. Researchers soon realized that some roaches had developed an aversion to glucose—the sugary bait disguising the poison—and that the insects were passing that trait on to their young. Now, scientists have figured out how this behavior evolved."

That's fine

[phantomfive]

Maybe soon they will learn an aversion to everything in my house. Then they can live outside and we will all be happy.

Ah, yes!

[Black Parrot]

That Intelligent Designer is a crafty one! You'll never best his cockroaches!

Roach Motel - Free Wifi

[srobert]

I noticed the roaches weren't going for it, so I added a sign to it: "Free Continental Breakfast, Free Wifi".

Re:Ah, yes!

[Anonymous Coward]

IDers accept microevolution.

Which just makes them more illogical, not less. For example, I accept that I live in my mother's basement, but I don't accept that I will never get a date. Yet the latter is a consequence of the former.

Re:Easy fix to this problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Cockroaches have taste and need quality stuff. High fructose corn syrup is only for lower species.

Re:Easy fix to this problem

[Anonymous Coward]

.... and just leave poison out --- let the diabetes, liver disease, and obesity kill the roaches instead ...

Re:That's fine

[Anonymous Coward]

Then they can live outside and we will all be happy.

I understand many of them have found alternative employment with Microsoft and Apple's IP standover^h^h protection legal teams.

a better class of roach requires a better trap

[Tumbleweed]

If they've upped their standards and don't like motels, we'll have to increase our efforts, and create roach B&Bs.

Re:Evolution is bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

There are many copies.

Re:This could be good

[the biologist]

Another aspect of the success of the German cockroach (mentioned in article) is that they're colonial animals. If the food source runs out, they will simply eat each other and keep breeding... resulting in a slowly shrinking colony. Eventually the colony will starve itself out of existence, but generally the humans living near by will have accidentally given them some food that isn't the colony... resulting in the colony rapidly growing again.