Today I Learned: frequently coyotes and badgers will hunt together
Friend time
yeah dude! american badgers, like honey badgers, do not give a fuck, and will happily co-hunt with coyotes, even more than one coyote at a time, because they are NOT worried about the larger predators at all.
It works like this:Badgers hunt almost anything that burrows, mostly small to medium mammals. Coyotes hunt almost any small to medium mammal, many of which burrow. Burrowing mammals have two options when hunted: go deeper into the den and hide, or bolt out of an exit and run.
Coyotes are running animals, when they hunt, they are great at running down prey. But they are kind of shitty at digging, so burrowing prey’s best option is to go deep into their den and hide.
Badgers are burrowing animals, and when they hunt, they dig into a burrow very quickly; the best option for their prey is to jump out of a side entrance and run away, as they are often faster than the badger on flat terrain and get a head start while the badger is still underground ripping up the front hall.
But when BOTH a badger AND a coyote close in, well.. burrowing prey is fucked. Hide in the den, and badger eats them. Jump out and run, and coyote makes the kill.
At some point badgers and coyotes (both very clever creatures) figured this out and started joining each other’s hunts.
I can’t believe I reblogged this without adding one of my favorite animal facts that totally relates! Everyone’s favorite sonofabitch, the honey badger sorta does this too! But with birds! The honey guide bird is excellent at finding honey but is a smol boi and would get wrecked by a bee swarm. The honey badger is not as good at finding honey, but is a fucking lunatic and doesn’t give half a fuck about being stung relentlessly. So when a honey guide bird finds some sweet, sweet honey, they’ll just go find a honey badger, bring them to the hive, and let them go nuts.
I’m pretty sure there’s even an old tale about a honey badger who gets led to honey by a Honey Guide, and then greedily takes all the honey. So the next time, the bird leads the badger to a fucking lion pack.
(via lurkerviolin)