February 3, 2021 • 5 mins
These birds are the subject of a lot of myths, ancient and modern. Learn what roadrunners are really like in this episode of BrainStuff.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren vog Obam Here, I'm afraid that we've
got it all wrong about road runners. Close your eyes,
assuming you're not driving or something similar, and picture a roadrunner.
What do you see? A bird call and leggie like
an ostrich with a billowy blue tail. When it runs,
(00:24):
all you see is a pinwheel of legs and a
streak of dust. And it's constantly being pursued by one
wiley coyote named yes, wiley coyote, but always without exception escapes,
alas as entertaining as they are, Warner Brothers cartoons have
rarely been going for scientific accuracy. Real road runners don't
(00:47):
even say beep beep. Road Runners are unique among birds,
though mostly due to their ability to rent it speeds
up to twenty seven miles or forty three kilometers per hour.
Most closely related to cuckoo and about the size of
a crow. The two species of roadrunner, the greater roadrunner
or geocockics California aus and the lesser road runner or
(01:08):
geocockyx Bellocks, are scrawny desert birds with long tails and
curved beaks, and they love to hang out on the ground,
despite the fact that it can get hot in the
deserts and shrublands of the southwestern United States, Central America,
and South America. Oh We spoke via email with Dean Ransom,
a wildlife biologist and roadrunner researcher in the Department of
(01:30):
Biology at Baylor University. He said road runners are quite
capable of powered flight, but they spend most of their
time on the ground. When they do occupy the trees,
they usually hop up to the lowest branch and hop
up to where they need to go. But it's the
terrestrial running habit that makes them somewhat unique. They're a
(01:50):
mid sized predatory bird that feeds on reptiles, insects, and
small mammals like field mice and rats. They chase down
their prey and then either kill it with strikes to
the head or grasp it by the tail and slam
it down on a rock for the killing blow. Road
Runners mate for life, but are normally pretty solitary otherwise.
(02:10):
They nest in trees and are prolific re nest ors
and meaning that if they lose their first nest predators,
they'll go right out and look for different real estate.
Ransom said. The road runners lay and hatch eggs asynchronous lee,
which means there will be noticeable size and age differences
among a brood of young roadrunners. In years of food scarcity,
(02:31):
the oldest young often eats one or more of its
younger siblings, and sometimes for the same reason, the adults
will eat their young to survive and breed another day. Brutal, yes,
but it's tough out in the desert, and roadrunners don't
get a break from it since they don't migrate, living
year round in the same stomping grounds. To deal with
(02:53):
the extreme heat of the days and the plummeting nighttime temperatures,
road runners employ a physiological process called copper in which
they lower their body temperature on cold nights to conserve
body heat and energy expenditure. In the mornings, when the
sun comes up, they bask in the sun to warm up,
putting on quite a display in the process. They turn
(03:14):
their backs to the morning sun and erect all of
their feathers, exposing black, pigmented skin underneath that absorbs heat.
Road Runners have feet in which two toes are pointed
forward and two toes are pointed backward. Scientists call this
a zygodactyl foot arrangement. It's not terribly uncommon in perching
(03:34):
birds like Swift's owls, woodpeckers, and the like, but it's
pretty unique in a bird that spends most of its
time hoofing around in the desert. It makes their tracks
look X shaped, which makes it near impossible to tell
which direction the bird was running in. These tracks have
captivated humans for millennia. The symbol of road runner tracks
(03:54):
has been used to ward off evil by some Pueblo tribes,
and stylized roadrunner prints have been identified an ancient Anasazi
and maga Yan rock art. In fact, road runners have
figured prominently in human stories up through the present day.
Pueblo peoples of New Mexico have a tradition of drawing
road runner tracks on the ground near the resting place
(04:15):
of a newly dead loved one in order to lure
evil spirits away from the soul as it makes its
way to the afterlife. Eating road runner meat has been
thought to bring speed by some Native American traditions, and
crossing paths with a roadrunner has been thought to bring
good or bad luck, depending on the direction of approach.
Early European colonists said that roadrunner tracks could lead a
(04:39):
lost traveler to a path, and of course, the road
runner of Looney Tunes fame is a somewhat magical and
certainly lucky figure. After all, how many times can of
hungry coyote try to murder you with Acme brand Rube
Goldberg machines and failed miserably many many times? It turns out.
(05:05):
Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields and produced by
Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other
speedy topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff
is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts in my
heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren vog Obam Here, I'm afraid that we've
got it all wrong about road runners. Close your eyes,
assuming you're not driving or something similar, and picture a roadrunner.
What do you see? A bird call and leggie like
an ostrich with a billowy blue tail. When it runs,
(00:24):
all you see is a pinwheel of legs and a
streak of dust. And it's constantly being pursued by one
wiley coyote named yes, wiley coyote, but always without exception escapes,
alas as entertaining as they are, Warner Brothers cartoons have
rarely been going for scientific accuracy. Real road runners don't
(00:47):
even say beep beep. Road Runners are unique among birds,
though mostly due to their ability to rent it speeds
up to twenty seven miles or forty three kilometers per hour.
Most closely related to cuckoo and about the size of
a crow. The two species of roadrunner, the greater roadrunner
or geocockics California aus and the lesser road runner or
(01:08):
geocockyx Bellocks, are scrawny desert birds with long tails and
curved beaks, and they love to hang out on the ground,
despite the fact that it can get hot in the
deserts and shrublands of the southwestern United States, Central America,
and South America. Oh We spoke via email with Dean Ransom,
a wildlife biologist and roadrunner researcher in the Department of
(01:30):
Biology at Baylor University. He said road runners are quite
capable of powered flight, but they spend most of their
time on the ground. When they do occupy the trees,
they usually hop up to the lowest branch and hop
up to where they need to go. But it's the
terrestrial running habit that makes them somewhat unique. They're a
(01:50):
mid sized predatory bird that feeds on reptiles, insects, and
small mammals like field mice and rats. They chase down
their prey and then either kill it with strikes to
the head or grasp it by the tail and slam
it down on a rock for the killing blow. Road
Runners mate for life, but are normally pretty solitary otherwise.
(02:10):
They nest in trees and are prolific re nest ors
and meaning that if they lose their first nest predators,
they'll go right out and look for different real estate.
Ransom said. The road runners lay and hatch eggs asynchronous lee,
which means there will be noticeable size and age differences
among a brood of young roadrunners. In years of food scarcity,
(02:31):
the oldest young often eats one or more of its
younger siblings, and sometimes for the same reason, the adults
will eat their young to survive and breed another day. Brutal, yes,
but it's tough out in the desert, and roadrunners don't
get a break from it since they don't migrate, living
year round in the same stomping grounds. To deal with
(02:53):
the extreme heat of the days and the plummeting nighttime temperatures,
road runners employ a physiological process called copper in which
they lower their body temperature on cold nights to conserve
body heat and energy expenditure. In the mornings, when the
sun comes up, they bask in the sun to warm up,
putting on quite a display in the process. They turn
(03:14):
their backs to the morning sun and erect all of
their feathers, exposing black, pigmented skin underneath that absorbs heat.
Road Runners have feet in which two toes are pointed
forward and two toes are pointed backward. Scientists call this
a zygodactyl foot arrangement. It's not terribly uncommon in perching
(03:34):
birds like Swift's owls, woodpeckers, and the like, but it's
pretty unique in a bird that spends most of its
time hoofing around in the desert. It makes their tracks
look X shaped, which makes it near impossible to tell
which direction the bird was running in. These tracks have
captivated humans for millennia. The symbol of road runner tracks
(03:54):
has been used to ward off evil by some Pueblo tribes,
and stylized roadrunner prints have been identified an ancient Anasazi
and maga Yan rock art. In fact, road runners have
figured prominently in human stories up through the present day.
Pueblo peoples of New Mexico have a tradition of drawing
road runner tracks on the ground near the resting place
(04:15):
of a newly dead loved one in order to lure
evil spirits away from the soul as it makes its
way to the afterlife. Eating road runner meat has been
thought to bring speed by some Native American traditions, and
crossing paths with a roadrunner has been thought to bring
good or bad luck, depending on the direction of approach.
Early European colonists said that roadrunner tracks could lead a
(04:39):
lost traveler to a path, and of course, the road
runner of Looney Tunes fame is a somewhat magical and
certainly lucky figure. After all, how many times can of
hungry coyote try to murder you with Acme brand Rube
Goldberg machines and failed miserably many many times? It turns out.
(05:05):
Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields and produced by
Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other
speedy topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff
is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts in my
heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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