A-Maze-ing Cockroaches

1. A-Maze-ing Cockroaches

2. Hypothesis • If we drag the food through the maze, in a path, then the cockroaches will find the food faster than if we don’t.

3. Abstract The purpose of our experiment is to determine how strong a cockroach’s sense of smell is. The first step was to build a maze with food at the end, which we had the cockroaches navigate. The next step was to perform several trials to find the maximum distance the cockroaches can sense food. We tried both putting the food at the end of the maze, and dragging the food through the maze to leave a sort of “trail” for the cockroach to track. We expected the cockroaches to locate the food at the end of the maze when we drag the food through the maze faster than when we put the food at the end of the maze.

4. The Maze

5. The Cockroaches Madagascan Hissing • We used two types of cockroaches: --Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches --Giant South American Cockroaches Giant South American

6. Materials • Maze --Made out of poster paper, paper towel rolls, and construction paper. Painted with non-toxic tempura paint --Bat gel/ Turtle gel

7. Procedure • First, we constructed our maze. • For the first few trials, we put a piece of bat gel somewhere in the maze and gave the cockroaches five minutes each to find the food. • We dabbed the food in a “trail” for the cockroaches to follow.

8. Error • The only error’s we encountered throughout the trials of our project were the Madagascan cockroaches hissing, because they were not willing to participate, they would not participate because they weren’t hungry, and also, the cockroaches getting themselves lodged under the paper towel rolls on the sides.

9. Trial One • Used a Madagascan Hissing Cockroach. • Unable to find the food in five minutes. Hid in a crack; All cracks were sealed in following experiments

10. Trial Two • For this trial, we used a South American Cockroach. • Found the food within ten seconds.

11. Trial Three • Used Madagascan Hissing Cockroach. • Gave five minutes, did not find the food.

12. Trial Four • Used South American Cockroach. • Gave five minutes, walked past food multiple times.

13. Trial Five • Used Madagascan Hissing Cockroach • Fifty-Three seconds: got stuck in a paper towel roll; would not cooperate further.

14. Trial Six • Used South American Cockroach. • Found food within a minute and thirty two seconds.

15. Trial Seven • Used Madagascan Hissing Cockroach. • Gave five minutes, walked over food multiple times.

16. Trial Eight • Used South American Cockroach. • Gave five minutes, took four minutes and fifty three seconds to find the food.

17. Trial Nine • Used Madagascan Hissing Cockroach. • Gave five minutes, continuously hissed at us.

18. Trial Ten • Used South American Cockroach. • Gave five minutes, took two minutes and nine seconds to find food.

19. Data • The Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches failed to find the food five out of five times • The Giant South American Cockroaches, on the other hand, only failed once and found the food four out of five times.

20. Conclusion • With our experiment, we attempted to find how strong a cockroach’s sense of smell is. Through our experiments, we found that the cockroaches found the food more often if we left a trail for them to follow. We also found that the Giant South American Cockroaches found the food more frequently than the Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches. • In conclusion, we proved our hypothesis correct. The cockroaches found the food faster when we left a trail. This shows that cockroaches have a poor sense of smell. Surprisingly, we also found that Giant South American cockroaches have a better sense of smell than the Madagascan Hissing.