Take Suren, the Zoo’s 1-year-old Bactrian camel, for instance.  In a race across the arid Gobi Desert, she could run 100 miles without water with up to 80 pounds of fat stored in her humps to be converted into energy.  Maintaining a speed of about 25 miles per hour, Suren would surely leave her human competitor in the desert dust.

In a contest against 9-year-old Lee the polar bear, even the bracing chill of the Arctic air wouldn’t make a mere mortal’s mission any more possible.  Not only could Lee move easily through the snow and ice with his dinner plate-sized paws, he could also maintain short bursts of 25 miles per hour and handily ice his biped challenger. 

Human runners wouldn’t perform much better against Viktor the Amur tiger (50 miles per hour), Jabari the giraffe (32 miles per hour) or even Jock the river hippopotamus (20 miles per hour).

Not all the Zoo’s animals would prove to be such tough opponents, however.  A person could breathe easy in Sunday’s 5K run against 17-year-old Homer the three-toed sloth.  Even if Homer left the day before the race, his human adversary would have time to watch the awards ceremony and enjoy the post-race party before the slow-moving mammal crawled across the finish line at his plodding pace of .15 miles per hour. 

Two-legged animals will have a chance to race against their own species on Sunday, September 20, 2009.   The Bank of America Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo kicks off with a 5K run at 8 a.m., followed by a 10K run at 8:45 a.m. and an untimed one-mile fun walk at 9 a.m.  Proceeds from Run Wild benefit the Zoo’s Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex and veterinary care.

The clock is ticking, but interested participants can still register for the event online at www.detroitzoo.org (click on Events, then Run Wild) until September 15.  Registration will also be available at the Detroit Zoo on September 18, 19 and 20. 

The Detroit Zoological Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Zoo.  Situated on 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, the Detroit Zoo is located at the intersection of Ten Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, just off I-696, in Royal Oak.  The Detroit Zoo is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April through Labor Day (with extended hours until 8 p.m. Wednesdays during July and August), 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. day after Labor Day through October and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. November through March.  Admission is $11 for adults 15 to 61, $9 for senior citizens 62 and older, and $7 for children ages 2 to 14; children under 2 are free.  For more information, call (248) 541-5717 or visit www.detroitzoo.org.  The Belle Isle Nature Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. year-round and provides educational programming with interpretive staff support from the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.  Admission is free.  For more information, call (313) 852-4056. 
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