Picture trying to survive in deserts and dry scrubland in the southwestern United States and Mexico. For many animals, a habitat like this would be impossible. Yet the roadrunner, a bird about 55 centimeters long, including its tail, thrives there, thanks to features that scientists call adaptations: traits that help a living thing survive in its environment.
Consider long, strong legs: this adaptation let it run about 30 kilometers an hour. Equally important is a patch of dark skin on its back that it turns to the sun, which helps it warm up after cold desert nights. Without these traits, the roadrunner would struggle to last a single season.
As a carnivore, the roadrunner is an animal that eats other animals; it depends on lizards, insects and snakes. Its behavior matters as much as its body: it would rather run than fly, and flies only in short bursts. Behaviors like this are adaptations too, even though you cannot see them in a photograph.
The next generation faces the same challenges. Young roadrunners, called chicks, depend on their surroundings and on adult care. Chicks can leave the nest and catch their own food at about three weeks old.
Perhaps most remarkable of all: a roadrunner is fast enough to catch a rattlesnake. Facts like this remind us that every animal's body tells a story about the place it lives.