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Coyote and badger ‘friendship’ video excites scientists. Here’s why
The 12-second-long video details the unusual ‘friendship’ between the animals.
A video of an unlikely friendship between a coyote and a badger has prompted a wave of surprised and excited reactions from people, including several scientists.
Captured under a highway in California’s Santa Cruz Mountain, the 12-second-long video details the unusual ‘friendship’ between the animals.
Shared by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) on both Twitter and Facebook, the video shows the coyote and the badger using a culvert to travel underneath the highway. In the video, the coyote wags its tail as it sees the badger approaching.
“This is the best thing you’ll see all day! Our wildlife cameras spotted a #coyote and #badger together — the first time this type of behaviour has been captured in the San Francisco,” POST tweeted.
Since being shared, the video has gathered over one lakh views. Additionally, it has also garnered more than 2,700 likes and close to 1,100 retweets.
People dropped varied reactions and here’s what they tweeted:
Coyotes and badgers have been known to hunt for small mammals together, reports National Geographic. However, the partnership is purely transactional. This video captures something different - it shows a “friendly” relationship between two animals instead of the usual “cold and robotic” approach.
“I wouldn’t scientifically want to use the term friends, but these are two wild animals that clearly understand their partnership,” independent behavioural ecologist Jennifer Campbell-Smith told National Geographic.
What do you think of the video?
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