Classic Cartoons - Looney Tunes - Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner

It's an eternal battle of need versus speed, aggravation versus acceleration. Throughout Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote's careers in over two dozen Warner Bros. cartoons chronicling the duo's encounters, their classic chase formula has never lost its tension. The luckless Wile E. comes up with increasingly elaborate and seemingly foolproof schemes to snag Road Runner who, oblivious to the danger, always eludes the pathetic coyote's painstaking plans. According to Chuck Jones, the duo's creator and chief director, in Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times Of An Animated Cartoonist, he and the artists behind the Road Runner and Wile E. cartoons adhered to some simple but strict rules:

Rule 1. The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going "Beep-Beep!"

Rule 2. No outside force can harm the Coyote - only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products.

Rule 3. The Coyote could stop anytime - if he were not a fanatic. ("A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." - George Santayana)

Rule 4. No dialogue ever, except "Beep-Beep!"

Rule 5. The Road Runner must stay on the road. (i.e. the name Road Runner)

Rule 6. All action must be confined to the southwest American desert. (natural environment of the two characters)

Rule 7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.

Rule 8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote's greatest enemy.

Rule 9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

Rule 10. The audience's sympathy must remain with the Coyote.

New Mexico's state bird is the Roadrunner(Geococcyx californianus).

Officially adopted March 16, 1949. It was adopted under the name "Chaparral Bird". In Spanish, it is called "El Correcaminos".

The comical roadrunner prefers running to flying and has been clocked at speeds of 15 miles per hour.

They are approximately 22 inches in length and their diet consists of insects, lizards, centipedes, mice and snakes.

Some Native American Indian tribes believe that the roadrunner is a protection against evil spirits. They call the roadrunner the war bird, the snake eater, or the medicine bird.