Why do roadrunners disappear from the desert each winter? This ecologist has a guess.

“How fast can a roadrunner run?” is a question I am often asked. The top speed given in the literature is 18 miles per hour. I put the top speed closer to 20 based on a roadrunner running alongside my vehicle for a short distance. In either case, a roadrunner’s speed is less than half that of a race horse. Winning Brew reached nearly 44 mph at the 2008 Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Penn. A roadrunner’s top speed is also less than a human sprinter. Usain Bolt, the Olympic gold medalist from Jamaica, was once clocked at 27 miles per hour.

https://www.desertsun.com/story/desert-magazine/2018/12/03/california-desert-roadrunners-disappear-each-winter-heres-why/2195865002/

Posted on December 4, 2018 03:20 AM by biohexx1