Twitter | @PeccaryNotPig

Wildlife Camera Captures Adorable Shots Of Playful Coyote And Its Badger Friend

Updated September 6, 2021

Even with tons of research and study, the lives of wild animals are still a bit of a mystery to the humans they live amongst.

Thanks to that mystery and a lot of assumptions, we assume that certain animals just aren't meant to be friends — unless it's a Disney movie, and Tod and Copper prove that they can care for one another regardless of instinct and societal pressure.

Yes, I cry over The Fox and the Hound every damn time.

It's the Disney effect that may be to blame for why a recent wildlife cam video has gone super viral.

The unassuming camera is placed facing a culvert that runs beneath a California highway in the Southern Santa Cruz Mountains.

The camera is part of a project by the Peninsula Open Space Trust and Pathways for Wildlife. Usually, they just use the videos for study, but this one was too cute not to share.

I could watch the excited coyote tippy-tap for his badger friend to hurry up on a loop.

Twitter | @PeccaryNotPig

While many people were stunned to see the two very different animals hanging out, experts say that it's not uncommon for coyotes and badgers to hunt together.

The badgers are great at digging and have previously been spotted forcing prairie dogs or squirrels out of their burrows and into the waiting paws of a coyote.