The Road Runner is one of a duo of cartoon characters (along with Wile E. Coyote) from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. In each episode, the cunning, insidious and constantly hungry Coyote repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempts to catch and subsequently eat the Road Runner, a fast-running ground bird. Coyote uses absurdly complex contraptions to try to catch his prey, which comically backfire, with Coyote often getting injured in slapstick fashion and the Road Runner evading capture.