Video of an apparent friendship between a coyote and a badger has gone viral after it was shared online by a Californian wildlife protection group.
The video shows a coyote and a badger out hunting together.
The coyote can be seen jumping around the entrance of a pipe while it waits for its badger companion to catch up. The two animals then enter the tunnel, which runs underneath a busy highway.
According to the Peninsula Open Space Trust, while it is not uncommon for badgers and coyotes to hunt ground dwelling creatures together, complementing each other's hunting styles, this video is the first documentation of the two species using a man-made structure to travel together.
The apparent friendly behaviour exhibited in the video between the two animals has surprised experts, with the relationship between the two previously thought to have been purely transactional.
This video was captured by one of 50 Peninsula Open Space Trust remote sensor cameras, used to study how wildlife moves across the southern Santa Cruz Mountains.
