TulsaPets Magazine July 2022

30 TulsaPets • July / August 2022 Beep, Beep ! If You Think the Roadrunner Is Cuckoo, You’re Right by Kim Doner W henever a roadrunner is men- tioned, most of us immedi- ately think of the Looney Tunes character Road Runner and his nemesis, Wile E. Coyote. The next response is to reply, “Beep, beep!” Then the more juvenile of us (OK, present company included) make the “Bliddle-iddle-iddle” sound that the character utters before his immediate exit from the scene. Well, just how close did Warner Brothers come when creating this personality and his life challenges? How does an animation compare to the “Real McCoy”? I’m so glad you asked! Allow me to elabo- rate on the accuracies and inaccuracies! Roadrunners Are in the Cuckoo Family First, although roadrunners are fast on the ground — they have been clocked at 27 miles per hour when chasing prey — the wily coyote can outrun them at a speed of as much as 40 miles per hour. Coyotes do eat roadrunners if they can catch them, so coyotes — along with raccoons, hawks, and owls — are a threat to these guys. Next, roadrunners do not go “Beep, beep,” but they do have a wide variety of calls that are unmistakable once you learn them. As members of the cuckoo family (properly called Cuculidae) with the genus name of Geococcyx (thank you, Carl Linnae- us), roadrunners have a name that is a loose translation of “earth runner,” aka ground cuckoo. Mating calls can be heard as far as a quarter mile away, and it’s a sweet, A fledgling roadrunner enjoys a quiet moment in loving hands. Photo by Kim Doner.