00:0231-year-old entomologist Christian Lucanias scours the Philippine rainforest looking for
00:08black, shiny critters. Known as the cockroach lord by his friends in the research world,
00:13Lucanias is the Philippines' only expert on the insect, and he's not afraid to handle them.
00:19In fact, he's trying to clear up misconceptions about the insect,
00:22which are usually considered dirty and disease-ridden.
00:27Look at it. It's cleaning its leg because it thinks what touched him earlier is disgusting.
00:34Lucanias says the bugs, too, can be grossed out by things, like humans, that they're not used to
00:39in their habitat. He's been studying cockroaches for over a decade, observing their behaviors and
00:44their relationship to the environment. Cockroaches play a role in the ecosystem,
00:50particularly in the process of decomposition. In the energy cycle, cockroaches degrade leaves
00:57or dead animals so nutrients can return to the soil, and the nutrients will be absorbed by other
01:03plants. In the Philippines, there are at least 130 known species of cockroach, most of which aren't
01:10found anywhere else on Earth. Lucanias has discovered 15 species and counting on his own.
01:18It feels kind of sad being the lone expert on cockroaches here in the Philippines because we have
01:25a wide range of insect species, especially cockroaches. But for the longest time, no one has studied them.
01:32Now Lucanias finds himself in high demand for his unique knowledge, from bug spray companies to
01:38restaurants trying to fight cockroach infestations. But he says he wants to focus his work on advocating for
01:44these misunderstood critters, discovering more varieties and learning more about their critical role
01:49in the ecosystem. Ryan Wu and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.
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