A Coyote and a Badger Walk Into a Bar

Wildlife studies have revealed evidence of something that native Americans have known for as long as people have roamed north America.  Badgers and coyotes work together – not because they are friends – but because their individual skill sets work more efficiently when they operate as a team versus either of them hunting alone.  

Even though they’re both competing for the same prey the expenditure of energy catching prey is been shown to be reduced when they collaborate.  Badgers are well-adapted miners and can easily sniff out prey digging underground.  With keen eyesight and speed the coyote does a superior job of catching fast-moving prey on the surface.  Typically only one of the team ends-up with a meal but the research suggests that this unique group effort benefits both animals over the long run. 

In many respects that’s how we run our deer camp.  Everyone participates but not everyone kills a deer in the end.  Some hunters even kill multiple deer – yet everyone shares in the kill.  

Learn more about this fascinating symbiotic relationship over at the USFWS Blog.

Raising a toast to collaborative hunting....