The Best Animal Myths Tested On Mythbusters

April 2024 · 2 minute read

After journalist Richard Schweid reported that cockroaches had survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear blasts in 1945, Slate notes a myth that cockroaches would inherit the Earth was born. One 1968 article in The New York Times even highlighted a 1965 ad from the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy: "The winner of World War III will be the cockroach." As always, the Mythbusters had to check if the bug really is the most resilient around.

In Mythbusters' episode from 2008, Kari Byron, Tory Belleci, and Grant Imahara tested three types of bugs against three levels of radiation, all high enough to kill a human being: 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000 rads. They exposed fruit flies, cockroaches, and flower beetles over a period of 30 days (each species being split into three radiation groups), to see how many would survive from each species. All bugs did an impressive job at being sturdy, but when it comes to cockroaches inheriting the Earth, the Build Team had a surprise.

The cockroaches did much better than humans would: 50% had survived 1,000 rads (the lethal dose for us), and 30% had survived 10,000 rads. However, the 100,000 rads exposure was too much for them — but not for the other insects. Fruit flies did a little better than cockroaches (unfortunately, dying of natural causes before the team could draw an exact conclusion), and 10% of the flower beetles had even survived the 100,000 rads. The myth? Busted.

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