Facts about Skunk
Skunks are one of the primary predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings.
Skunks are reluctant to use their smelly weapon, as they carry just enough of the chemical for five or six uses—about 15 cc—and require some ten days to produce another supply.
Pet owners, particularly those of cats, may experience a skunk finding its way into a garage or basement where pet food is kept.
Skunks are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal material and changing their diet as the seasons change.
Some skunks were reported by European settlers in America as being kept as pets by certain Native Americans.
Skunks typically mate in early spring and are a polygynous species, meaning that males usually mate with more than one female.
Typical life spans for domesticated skunks are considerably longer than for wild skunks, often reaching 10 years, though it is not unusual for a well cared skunk to live well past 20 years.
The notorious feature of skunks is their anal scent glands, which they can use as a defensive weapon.
A skunk family can virtually depopulate a healthy hive in just a few days.
Skunks were formerly considered to be a subfamily, Mephitinae, of the Mustelidae family of weasels and related animals.
Skunks are crepuscular or nocturnal, and are solitary animals when not breeding, though in the colder parts of their range they may gather in communal dens for warmth.
Domesticated skunks can legally be kept as pets in the United Kingdom.
One problem with U.S. skunks kept as pets is genetic problems due to a lack of genetic diversity.
Most predatory animals of the Americas, such as wolves, foxes, and badgers, seldom attack skunks—presumably out of fear of being sprayed.
The word skunk is a corruption of an Abenaki name for them, segongw or segonku, which means "one who squirts" in the Algonquian dialect.
Interestingly, skunks will not spray other skunks (with the exception of males in the mating season); though they fight over den space in autumn, they do so with tooth and claw.
The keeping of skunks as pets is legal only in certain states of the United States.
Some taxonomies still have the skunks within Mustelidae; however, generally they are now placed in their own family of Mephitidae.
Skunks, as omnivores, play an important role in food chains and impact a variety of plant and animal life.
Skunk spray is composed mainly of low molecular weight thiol compounds, namely (E)-2-butene-1-thiol, 3-methyl-1-butanethiol, and 2-quinolinemethanethiol, as well as acetate thioesters of each of these (Wood et al.
Skunks trail raccoons as vectors of rabies, although this varies regionally.
When born, skunk kits are altrical, being blind, deaf, and covered in a soft layer of fur.
Stink badgers only recently have been placed as part of the skunk clade.
Roughly half of all skunk deaths are caused by humans, as roadkill, or as a result of shooting and poisoning.
Mephitis mephitis, the striped skunk species, is the most social skunk and the one most commonly domesticated.
All skunks have contrasting stripes or spots, even from birth.
We saw also a couple of Zorrillos, or skunks—odious animals, which are far from uncommon.
Their bold black and white coloring, however, serves to make the skunk's appearance memorable.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 1,494 cases of rabies in skunks in the United States for the year 2006—about 21.5 percent of reported cases in all species (Blanton et al.
Skunks suffer high mortality from disease and predation, with about fifty to seventy percent dying in their first year (Wund 2005).
Interestingly, skunks will not spray other skunks (with the exception of males in the mating season); though they fight over den space in autumn, they do so with tooth and claw.
Domesticated skunks can legally be kept as pets in the United Kingdom.
Roughly half of all skunk deaths are caused by humans, as roadkill, or as a result of shooting and poisoning.
The two skunk species in the Mydaus genus inhabit Indonesia and the Philippines; all other skunks inhabit the Americas from Canada to central South America.