Unique Trail Cam Video Captures a Coyote and Badger Using Culvert to go Hunt Together
OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow 02.05.20
Competition and collaboration aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. You’ve heard the expression “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” right? It’s a concept we see often in wildlife, and it was recently spotlighted in a unique trail cam video setup underneath a California highway.
Researchers documenting how wildlife interact with man-made road structures captured the video Monday, which shows a coyote and badger who apparently forged a pretty close relationship. The two companions triggered a trail camera when they were accessing a culvert under a highway to allegedly go hunting together.
The camera is maintained by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), a group dedicated to protecting open spaces in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties in California.
“A badger and coyote traveling together? Why not? Here, this pair is using a culvert to travel underneath a highway near the Southern Santa Cruz Mountains. Studies have shown that a badger and coyote hunting together can be beneficial for both species, as they pursue similar prey such as ground squirrels.
This shared use of a crossing structure might be the first observation of its kind, anywhere!”
Coyotes and badgers have been known to team up and hunt together.
According to The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the two animals have been observed hunting prairie dogs and squirrels at the National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado.
Friends come in all shapes and sizes, like this unlikely duo of a badger and coyote hunting together: https://t.co/TkTk4DLxvT #NationalBestFriendsDay pic.twitter.com/w5pPqvCzn4
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) June 8, 2018
The article goes on to explain how coyotes and badgers have developed an apparent strategy, where the coyote will chase the prey into a hole, and the badger will take over from there and fish it out.
When the colder months roll around, when certain rodents are hibernating, the badger no longer needs the coyote’s assistance because they can get to the prey while it’s in their den.
