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| They first appeared in 1949, 65 years ago. |
Wile E. Coyote (also known simply as "The Coyote") and The Road
Runner are a duo of characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie
Melodies series of cartoons. In the cartoons, Coyote repeatedly attempts to
catch and subsequently eat the Road Runner, a fast-running ground bird, but is
never successful. Coyote, instead of a coyote's animal instincts, uses absurdly
complex contraptions and elaborate plans to pursue his prey, which always
comically backfire.
The characters were created by animation
director Chuck Jones in 1949 for Warner Bros., while the template for their
adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese. The characters star in a
long-running series of theatrical cartoon shorts and occasional
made-for-television cartoons. It was originally meant to parody chase cartoons
like Tom and Jerry, but became popular in its own right.
