It’s not uncommon for badgers and coyotes to hunt together, says Open Spaces Trust. When they work together this way, it’s a little easier for them to catch their next meals, prey species like ground squirrels. But to see them moving through a small tunnel (or culvert) like this while playing is pretty surprising.
This video was captured recently as part of our research to better understand how wildlife move across the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. Open Spaces Trust has more than 50-remote sensor cameras helping them capture scenes like this, which they use to inform our land conservation work.
In this video, this seemingly unlikely duo use a culvert (a tunnel under a roadway) to travel underneath a highway near the Southern Santa Cruz Mountains. This shared use of a human-made crossing structure by a coyote and badger might be the first observation of its kind, anywhere!
This is the best thing you'll see all day! ?
— Open Space Trust (@POST_fans) February 4, 2020
Our wildlife cameras spotted a #coyote and #badger together — the first time this type of behavior has been captured in the San Francisco #BayArea.https://t.co/YDcnhyiWL1 pic.twitter.com/qZQgcbwtTk