When animals attack

Once again, the internet was surprised by animal behaviour that is entirely natural

Humans often train animal to do unnatural things, but we'd be surprised by the things that happen in nature. (Johannes Eiselle / AFP)

‘Angry badger shuts hotel” and “Weasel rides woodpecker” might seem like the sort of fake online headlines written to attract clicks. Astonishingly, both appear to be true. In Stockholm, an irritable badger refused to let guests in or out of a luxury hotel, until police intervened. While the photograph of a weasel clinging to the back of a woodpecker in mid-flight, which went viral last week, appears to have been a rare but real event captured by a lucky cameraman out on a stroll with his wife.

But perhaps we should not be astonished. The natural world is far more complex and more fascinating than we humans can ever imagine. The widespread availability of camera phones and the internet merely make it more likely that unknown behaviour will be captured and possibly much more often. Like the weasel and the badger, animals have been behaving like this for millions of years. It’s just that humans have only recently found that out.