Nature is usually portrayed as an endless competition in which every animal is looking out for itself. Yet some of the most effective survival strategies work in exactly the opposite way.
Across deserts, forests, oceans, and grasslands, animals from completely different species have learned to hunt together, exchange protection for food, share warning systems, or provide services that neither partner could perform as efficiently alone. Some of these relationships are true mutualisms, while others are looser associations in which the benefits depend on circumstances. Either way, they reveal that cooperation can be just as powerful an evolutionary strategy as competition.
Keep reading to discover the remarkable partnerships that prove surviving in the wild sometimes means finding the right ally—even when that ally looks nothing like you.
#1: Coyotes and American Badgers
Coyotes and American badgers might appear more likely to compete than cooperate, yet researchers have documented them hunting ground squirrels and other burrowing rodents together across western North America. Their partnership works because each predator specializes in a different part of the chase. Coyotes are fast above ground and can catch rodents attempting to escape across open terrain, while badgers are powerful diggers capable of pursuing prey into burrows that coyotes cannot enter. When the two hunt together, rodents face danger whether they remain underground or make a run for the surface. Studies have found that coyotes can become more successful at catching prey when accompanied by a badger, although the animals do not necessarily share individual kills. The relationship is therefore cooperation without friendship in the human sense: each predator independently exploits the pressure created by the other.
