Meep Meep ! How fast is The Road Runner?
- theexploreroffice
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 9
Who doesn’t love a cartoon where a clever, harmless animal outsmarts a larger predator? Whether it’s Tom and Jerry, Sylvester and Tweety, Oggy and the Cockroaches, or our beloved Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, these classic shows have brought joy to generations with their timeless chase antics.
But have you ever wondered: Does a bird like the Road Runner actually exist?
The answer is yes!
Just like in Looney Tunes, the roadrunner—scientific name Geococcyx—is a real bird found in the arid lowlands and shrublands of the Southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America. It’s named “roadrunner” because it prefers running over flying and can reach speeds of up to 32 km/h (20 mph) on land.
These birds are around 56 to 61 cm long (from beak to tail) and weigh about 300 grams. Their long legs and strong feet make them excellent runners—perfect for evading predators, even if not quite like in the cartoon!
The roadrunner, that runs at a whopping 32 kilometers per hour!
Roadrunners are omnivores, feeding mostly on insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, and caterpillars, as well as small reptiles like lizards.
Interestingly, the Hopi Native American tribe of Arizona once believed that roadrunners were medicinal birds. They thought these birds could ward off evil spirits, and their X-shaped footprints were believed to confuse spirits by hiding the direction the bird was moving. In the Road Runner Show, a classic cartoon once aired on Cartoon Network, the always-hungry Coyote never managed to catch the speedy Road Runner—no matter how many ACME gadgets he used. But here’s a surprising fact: in real life, a coyote can run at speeds of 56 to 69 km/h—more than double that of a roadrunner!
So now we ask you: Would a real coyote easily catch a roadrunner, or would the bird still outsmart its predator with clever moves?
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