A trail camera documenting wildlife activity near major roads filmed a coyote and a badger traveling together. Peninsula Open Space Trust set up cameras near Gilroy California to learn more about how wildlife deal with the roads around the south end of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The camera recorded the pair communicating about a culvert underpass and sharing a moment like two predator people with complex lives (as they are).
Coyotes and badgers are known to travel and hunt together but previously had not been seen doing so in this area. The two animals share some of the same prey species (rodents) but their hunting methods differ. Coyotes run fast but don’t dig well. Badgers run slowly but are great diggers. When hunting alone, a prey animal unable to outrun coyote might dive into a burrow to hide. When badger is hunting alone and digging into burrows, prey will jump out and run away. Coyote and badger don’t share the spoils when the hunt is successful, but the partnership boosts the chance that one of them will catch dinner.
A study in Wyoming reported, "Coyotes with badgers consumed prey at higher rates and had an expanded habitat base and lower locomotion costs. Badgers with coyotes spent more time below ground and active, and probably had decreased locomotion and excavation costs. Overall, prey vulnerability appeared to increase when both carnivores hunted in partnership."
But at other times coyote and badger are competitors and might eat each other.
Relationship status: it’s complicated.
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Peninsula Open Space Trust blog —
The team has deployed more than 50 remote-sensor cameras at existing bridges and culverts (tunnels under roads) as well as conducted systematic roadkill surveys throughout the study area. They are building a robust data set to identify the areas of safe passage for wildlife that can be maintained or enhanced, as well as areas where crossing structures could be most useful.
“Our project is focused on identifying the swaths of habitat that wildlife are using to navigate to these undercrossing features and also to learn whether there are locations where there are concentrations of wildlife-vehicle collisions,” he says. “These are important dynamics to understand, so that regional conservation efforts can take them into account.”
Creating a network of protected open spaces has been mission critical for POST since its founding.
“The goal is for our region to be a place where wildlife can move, adapt and thrive in the face of a changing landscape and climate,” Sharma says. “This work is increasingly important, especially as we consider the impacts of climate change and the fact that wildlife need to be able to locate the resources they need for survival, now and into the future.
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