May 26, 2013
Badger With Coyote and Black Bears in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yesterday in Yellowstone it was extremely quiet until almost 5:00 pm. That's when we found this badger hunting with a coyote. That's right, two different predator species cooperating to catch ground squirrels. Badgers are very good at catching ground squirrels below ground and coyotes are very good at catching them above ground. So, when the two find a ground squirrel, if the ground squirrel goes into its burrow, the badger begins to dig it out. If the ground squirrel gets trapped underground, then the badger will capture it. If the ground squirrel comes back above ground, then the coyote will capture it. I had heard about this behavior before, but this was the first time I was able to view and photograph it.

Shortly after we left the badger and coyote, we found the black bear sow with two cinnamon-colored yearling cubs. The sow and one cub were napping on the ground and the other cub was napping up in a nearby tree. When the cub in the tree came down, it immediately began nursing while the other cub looked on as shown in this image. Then the cub that had been on the ground started to nurse too.