Here is a fun little study providing evidence for a friendly association between ocelot and opossum.

https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70322

Also a NY Times article (gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/science/ocelots-opossums-friends-video.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XE8.rKzr.EcZZx85fiDvm&smid=url-share

I think there is a continuing trend in research to be less restrictive in assumptions about the range and capabilities of animal behaviour, which in the past frequently has led to dismissal of unexplained observations.

The finding doesn’t surprise Erol Akcay, a theoretical biologist at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the research.

“We tend to underestimate how much cooperation there is in nature,” he said.

One of Dr. Akcay’s favorite examples of what scientists call hunting mutualism is between honeyguide birds and humans. The birds lead people to bee nests, and when humans crack them open for honey, honeyguides feast on beeswax. As for opossums and ocelots, Dr. Akcay suspects a similar trade-off: “Opossums might guide the ocelot to prey it cannot itself take down, but they can feed on the carrion that ocelots leave behind,” he said.

Diego Astúa, a professor and curator of mammals at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil whose research focuses on opossums, called the study “really cool!” Considering that opossums are solitary creatures who don’t even hang out with their own kind outside of family or mating, this behavior is unexpected, he said.

But the finding also highlights something Dr. Astúa knows well: Research on opossum behavior is still in its infancy. “We are likely to find more and more surprising records like this,” he said.

Without video camera traps, the discovery might never have happened. Both species are nocturnal and elusive, making direct observation in dense rainforest difficult, Dr. Camerlenghi said. And “the video footage revealed interactions that photos alone could have easily been mistaken for predator-prey encounters,” Dr. Damas-Moreira added.

Those kinds of facultative mutualism are fascinating - they often seem to have an improvised quality. I think some famous ecologist (Odum?) dubbed it "protocooperation," as in they're trying out various arrangements that are far from being obligatory. I've seen hunting cats try this sort of thing around here with mule deer - they try following them around to see if the deer activity will stir up potential small prey. Not mutualistic of course - the deer get nothing out of it.

+1 nice piece