One cockroach species makes a milk somewhat like mammal milk
European scientists once pitched it as a health food, but farming it would be hard.
Science Vs · Where Have The Insects Gone?? With Dr. Jessica WareOne small cockroach species makes a milky fluid whose nutrition is not too different from the milk mammals make. Entomologist Jessica Ware says the mother holds her developing young inside her body and nourishes them with the cloudy, milky-white fluid.
The mother secretes it through modified spiracles, the tiny openings insects use to breathe. The fluid has a lot of protein, and Ware says you would expect the kind of high-protein nourishment an embryo needs to grow.
A few years ago, European scientists reportedly tried to promote cockroach milk as a coming health food. The problem is scale. It takes many insects to produce a tiny amount, what Ware calls liquid gold, and the insects are usually sacrificed to collect it. That sacrificing, she says, is the hard part, and farms would need to avoid it.
Questions people ask
What are spiracles?
Spiracles are the small openings along an insect's body that let air into its breathing system. Insects do not have lungs or noses, so air enters directly through these pores and travels through tiny tubes to their tissues.
Do other cockroaches make milk too?
Most cockroaches lay their eggs in a purse-like case called an ootheca, and the babies later pop it open together. Diploptera punctata is unusual because it keeps the young inside its body and feeds them as they develop, rather than laying them to hatch outside.
Could cockroach milk actually become a food?
Not practically, for now. The yield is tiny and the insects are usually sacrificed to collect it, which makes farming impractical. Ware calls the tiny amount liquid gold and says that sacrificing the insects is the hard part, and farms would need to avoid it.