But as it turns out, cooperation is the best strategy for coyotes and badgers alike, even if they might seem like rivals. Both species appear to strategize that, in the long-run, it’s much better to be hunting partners even if one of them ends up empty-handed on some hunts. After all, if they hunt together, you increase the likelihood that at least one of them will snag a midnight snack.

“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,” explained the authors of the National Elk Refuge study. It’s best to think of the relationship between coyotes and badgers as a sort of open relationship if you will.