Competition and cooperation aren't mutually exclusive.
 Just ask a coyote or a badger.
Both are crafty carnivores, and since they often hunt
 the same prey in the same prairies, it would make
 sense for them to be enemies, or at least to avoid
each other. But while they don't always get along,
coyotes and badgers also have an ancient
arrangement that illustrates why it can be smart
for rivals to work together.
An example of that partnership recently unfolded
 on a prairie in northern Colorado, near the
National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center.
 And it was captured in photos, both by a wildlife
camera trap and by sharp-eyed photographers:
coyote and badger hunting togetherA field camera caught this amazing shot, which shows the coyote and badger trotting across the landscape with a prairie dog looking on in the foreground. (Photo: National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center/Facebook)
coyote and badger hunting togetherThe duo takes a break from pursuing prairie dogs. (Photo: Kimberly Fraser/USFWS)
coyote and badger hunting together(Photo: Kimberly Fraser/USFWS)
coyote and badger hunting togetherThe coyote and badger survey a black-tailed prairie dog colony near Wellington, Colorado. (Photo: Ryan Moehring/USFWS)
While it's relatively rare to capture such good photos of
 a hunt like this, the phenomenon is well-documented.
It was familiar to many Native Americans long before
Europeans reached the continent, and scientists have
studied it for decades. It has been reported across
much of Canada, the United States and Mexico,
 according to Ecology Online, typically with one badger
 hunting alongside one coyote.
(In one study at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming,
 90 percent of all coyote-badger hunts featured one of
 each animal, while about 9 percent involved one
badger with two coyotes. Just 1 percent saw a lone
 badger join a coyote trio.)
But why would these predators work together at all?
 When one of them finally catches something, they
aren't known to share the spoils. So what's the point?
coyote and badger hunting togetherWorking together helps each species pursue prey more effectively. (Photo: Kimberly Fraser/USFWS)
The point, apparently, is to improve the likelihood that
at least one of the hunters will snag some prey. Even
if that means the other one ends up empty-handed, the
 partnership seems to pay off for both species in the long
 run.
Each member of the hunting party has a distinct set
of skills. Coyotes are nimble and quick, so they excel
at chasing prey across an open prairie. Badgers are
slow and awkward runners by comparison, but they're
better diggers than coyotes are, having evolved to
pursue small animals in underground burrow systems.
 So when they hunt prairie dogs or ground squirrels
on their own, badgers usually dig them up, while
coyotes chase and pounce. The rodents therefore
use different strategies depending which predator
is after them: They often escape a digging badger
 by leaving their burrows to flee aboveground, and
 evade coyotes by running to their burrows.
When badgers and coyotes work together,
however, they combine these skills to hunt
more effectively than either could alone.
Coyotes chase prey on the surface, while
 badgers take the baton for subterranean
pursuits. Only one may end up with a meal,
 but overall, research suggests the
 collaboration benefits both hunters.
"Coyotes with badgers consumed prey
at higher rates and had an expanded habitat
base and lower locomotion costs," according
 to the authors of the National Elk Refuge study.
 "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."
coyote and badger hunting togetherA coyote-badger duo at Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico. (Photo: Larry Lamsa/Flickr)
Badgers and coyotes aren't always friendly, though.
While the majority of their interactions "appear to be
mutually beneficial or neutral," Ecology Online notes
they do sometimes prey on each other. The two species
have developed "a sort of open relationship," according
 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), since they
 tend to collaborate in warmer months, then often drift
apart as winter sets in.
"In the winter, the badger can dig up hibernating prey
 as it sleeps in its burrow," the FWS explains. "It has
no need for the fleet-footed coyote."
Not at the time, anyway. But winter eventually turns
to spring, and these two hunters may start to need
each other again. And just as they have for thousands
 of years, they'll make peace, embrace their differences
and get back to work.
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"Each creature has its own purpose" -- 
Pope Francis on the moral imperative 
to preserve biodiversity during the 
Sixth Extinction
June 22, 2015 Andrew Wetzle
Each creature has its own purpose. None
 is superfluous. ... The ultimate purpose 
of other creatures is not to be found in us.
 Rather, all creatures are moving forward
 with us and through us towards a common 
point of arrival, which is God.Yet as last
 week's study reveals, humankind is depriving 
whole species from fulfilling their purpose, not
 only ecologically but, if one is moved by the
 Pope's teaching, spiritually as well. Extinction, 
unlike so many of the other ills that afflict our 
earth (even climate change) cannot be reversed.
 Humanity needs to do all it can to limit the
 damage we've done and save as many
 creatures as possible: for their sake.
chipmunk (Frank Vassen) (creative commons)

Last week, just about the same time that Pope Francis 
released a groundbreaking Encyclical outlining the 
Catholic Church's teaching on protecting the natural
 world, a team of scientists released sobering report 
of their own. Concluding that "the average rate of 
vertebrate species loss over the last century is up 
to 114 times higher than the background rate," the 
authors warned in a study published in the journal 
Science Advances, that "these estimates reveal an
 exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last
 few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction*
 is already under way." Reading both documents
 together was a helpful reminder of why I work in 
conservation.

Too often environmental issues get caught up in the
 maelstrom of politics and policy. But at its root,
conserving the earth is more about values and
responsibilities than it is about cost-benefit analyses
 and legal disputes. Pope Francis' encyclical was
a helpful tonic -- a reminder, to me at least, that what
 animates the environmental movement, as it does
all great social movements, is a moral call to action.
 And last week's study reminded me that nowhere is
 that call to action more clear than when it comes to
saving the life around us.

Again and again in his Encyclical, the Pope
emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things.
Drawing from ecology and the other sciences, the
 Pope concludes that "living species are part of a
 network which we will never fully explore and
understand." Not only does the Pope emphasize
 the many practical benefits that these networks
provide humanity, but their very existence also
forms part of the moral case for keeping the rich
array of plants and animals intact: "Because all
creatures are connected, each must be cherished
 with love and respect, for all of us as living
creatures are dependent on one another."

But the Pope does not stop with a call to preserve
ecological systems. He also focuses on the inherent
 value of individual living beings. Citing biblical
passages and Christian traditions that stress the
 inclusion of other animals in the moral threads
that knit a community together (did you know, for
example, that Exodus requires domesticated
animals to be given a rest on the Sabbath?), the
Pope comes to a remarkable conclusion:
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