Heathcliffe, a giant burrowing cockroach, may be the world's heaviest insect.

His name is Heathcliffe, he's a giant burrowing cockroach and now he's contending for the title of world's heaviest insect.

But though it may sound unappealing, Heathcliffe and his kind are not the average dirty, imported roaches, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Australia's giant cockroaches give birth to live young, look after them in a burrow, make "great pets" and dine on leaves, the paper reported.

"They are the world's heaviest cockroach and if not the heaviest of all insects, they are certainly a contender," Sydney University senior biology lecturer Nathan Lo said Thursday.

"They are different to other insects in a lot of ways and are totally unrelated to the American or German cockroaches found in Australian households," Lo told The Daily Telegraph.

 Source:  Fox news