Why Do Roaches Run Toward a Disturbance?

Hello all!

Does anyone have any definite answers (aside from speculation) as to why a roach, specifically the American Cockroach, will run toward a disturbance instead of away from it? I run into this many times during the summer when the big 3 inch American roaches start coming in and out of my apartment which I assume is to get out of the heat. As soon as I approach it with my catch cup to catch and release back outside, the things run toward me as I approach instead of away. I figure they have a limited sense of space and are perceiving the oncoming threat in a way that is unknown to me hence they are running to the closest safe place which just happens to be my feet. So does anyone know if this has been studied or of any studies that would shed light on this behavior? It seems counter intuitive for me as a human, but to a roach I'm sure it makes perfect sense. I would like to know how roaches perceive the world.

Thanks in advance!

Roaches will run towards you as a defence mechanism. It's runs towards you in order to try and scare you, and works on most mammals, including squeamish humans

...imagine if they could scream. They would be running and screaming at you, that would be terrifying.

Lots of the larger, more mobile insects will do that. I've had huge robber flies come at me when I try to catch them with a net and miss. Definitely gets my attention lol. More than once I've fallen back rather than have the 2" robber fly attach itself to my face.

Robber flies generally terrify me for that exact reason lol. They just aren't afraid to straight out fly at you, and the target always happens to be my face. They look intimidating too; especially the big ones lol. Remind me of a dragonfly mixed with one of those flippin' horse flies.

numbat1000 said:

Robber flies generally terrify me for that exact reason lol. They just aren't afraid to straight out fly at you, and the target always happens to be my face. They look intimidating too; especially the big ones lol. Remind me of a dragonfly mixed with one of those flippin' horse flies.

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It's really interesting to watch them observe their surroundings though. I got a nice series of photos of a Laphria recently and it was tough to take pictures since its head kept moving as it watched the various smaller, potentially edible insects flying around. And then it decided to fly at my face when it had had enough of my obnoxious pictures lol.