To most people, skunks are dumb, ill-tempered animals best known as stinky roadkill and good riddance. That’s a shame because you’ll find when you read all about striped skunks that they’re docile, non-aggressive, and perfectly happy to leave humans alone and go quietly about their lives.
It’s believed that skunks crossed from Siberia into Canada during ancient times before a landmass connecting the two continents was covered by water as it is now. Today there are four species 1 in North America. The most common species is the Striped Skunk, Mephitis mephitis, which has 13 subspecies and ranges across southern Canada and the United States down to the northern border of Mexico. Their natural habitat is open areas and open areas bordered by forests, grasslands, and agricultural lands. So, it’s no surprise that urban yards present an enticing opportunity to them—lots of clipped grass dotted with islands and borders of shade trees and shrubs. It’s important to know that skunks play a beneficial role there as predators of pests, such as grubs, snails, slugs, beetles, wasps, ants, millipedes, centipedes, small snakes, mice, and rats, among others.
Short, stubby legs make Striped Skunks ill-equipped physically for a lot of traveling. Their home range may be up to 1.5 square miles (2.4 km2) or as small as 20 acres (8.1 ha). A yard offering plentiful food may reduce their range even more—why stray too far from a good thing?
Background
The oldest skunk fossil, found in Germany, dates back 11 to 12 million years to the Miocene Epoch. However, genetic evidence indicates they originated much earlier, 30 to 40 million years ago, in the Early-Eocene to Late-Paleocene Epochs. Originally thought to be weasels, DNA evidence now shows skunks did have a common ancestor but more accurately belong in a separate family, Mephitidae, along with stink badgers, 2 their closest relatives. The oldest evidence of skunks in N.A., a skull fossil believed to be 9.2 to 9.3 million years old, was found in the Mojave Desert’s Red Rock Canyon.
When German naturalist I.C.D. von Schreber gave the Striped Skunk its Latin name in 1776, he chose the word Mephitis for both its genus and species, apparently meaning it to have the power of two! It would be hard for anyone who has smelled skunk spray to argue against his reasoning because Mephitis (muh-FIE-tiss) is Latin for “a noxious, pestilential, or foul exhalation from the earth.” 3
Physical description
Striped Skunks are 13–20 inches long (33–50.8 cm), plus a tail length of 7–10 inches (17.8–25.4 cm). Males are slightly larger than females. Their weight averages 6–8 pounds (2.7–3.6 kg) but can go up to 15 pounds (6.8 kg).
Striped Skunks, Mephitis mephitis (birdphotos.com / CC BY 3.0)
(Cliff / Flickr; CC BY 2.0)
They have a triangle-shaped head with a black nose and short ears. Their hair is black, with two broad, white stripes running from the back of the head to the tail, which is a bushy mix of black and white hairs. In addition, a thin white stripe runs from their forehead to their nose. The stark contrast between their white stripes and black body is very noticeable and sends a warning to predators to stay away. Their legs are short, and their feet have long, curved, strong claws—especially the front ones, used for digging.
Ewww, the stench!
It’s effective, isn’t it? If you’ve smelled it, you don’t forget it, and you’ll keep away! Humans can detect it in a concentration of 10 parts per billion, which is why we can smell it from long distances. The spray is a mix of seven sulfur-containing compounds called thiols and thioacetates, which are effective at driving predators away. It comes from two glands, one on each side of the anus, and they can spray it separately or simultaneously as a defense.
Skunks are best known for their spray, but they use it only as a last resort. For one thing, they’re docile by nature and like to avoid confrontation. But there’s another issue at play, a critical one: The supply of spray they have onboard, so to speak, measures only about one tablespoonful (15 ml) divided between the two glands. That’s enough for five or six effective squirts—but it’s the skunk’s only means of defense, and it takes about 10 days to replace it entirely. That’s a long time out in the wild without a means of protection.
They’ll warn you
Given a chance, a skunk will warn predators and humans away before blasting them. It’ll growl and hiss, stomp its feet, arch its back, chatter, and pretend to charge forward. It may do this several times, and you shouldn’t still be standing there! Back away slowly and quietly. If it starts to turn its back on you—RUN! Because the result is even worse than the smell: The liquid causes eyes to sting fiercely, temporarily blinding the foe (human or otherwise). It burns the skin. It can cause nausea. The odor clings to everything it touches, refusing to be rubbed or licked off. After that, a critter won’t intentionally harass a skunk ever again!
Animals and humans, too, usually get sprayed because they’ve come suddenly upon a skunk and startled it. If skunks are known to inhabit your area, always use a flashlight when stepping outside at night. It will alert both you and a skunk of each other’s presence.
Senses
Skunks have poor vision, with objects going fuzzy about 10 feet away (3 m). Their smell and hearing are poor, too, but their sense of touch is excellent.
Intelligence
Striped Skunks are very smart. That’s what owners of pet skunks say, and research backs them up. They learn quickly and have a good memory. Their owners describe them as determined, curious, and so ingenious that baby locks sometimes have to be put on cupboards and drawers to keep them out. Some can even open refrigerators. They’re friendly, playful, bond with their human companions, and like to cuddle. They can also be litter box trained. Watch a playful skunk and puppy: https://bit.ly/1iGGfKG
Communication
Striped Skunks aren’t particularly vocal but make a few sounds. They hiss, growl, squeal, and coo, as well as other noises that are hard to describe.
Behavior
Skunks are nocturnal (active at night) and typically rest in their dens in the daytime. But not always—it isn’t uncommon for them to go out to forage, especially nursing mothers, who are extra hungry. And their youngsters often come out to play. Here’s one playing with a human (but don’t try this yourself!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLz1GSkJeks
Skunks live solitary lives except during mating season, which is late winter to early spring. Males are particularly active during this time as they search for females. They sometimes fight over females but don’t spray each other.
Young Striped Skunk basking in the sun (Carrie Swzed / Flickr; CC BY-SA 2.0)
Skunks can climb fences and other obstacles, but not well, and they don’t climb trees. They would rather walk than run, but their short legs can move them in bursts of 4-6 miles per hour (6.4–9.7 km/h), if necessary. They also can swim.
Torpor
In the fall, they begin packing on fat. The extra fat allows them to stay in their dens for days or weeks in the winter, “sleeping” in a physical state called torpor. During torpor, their body temperature and metabolism rate go down, but it isn’t as deep as true hibernation. Striped Skunks reach the lowest torpid body temperature of all carnivores, dropping from 98.6°F to 78.8°F (37°C to 26°C).
Reproduction
Striped Skunk males can breed at about 10 months and females at about 11 months. Late winter to early spring is the mating season. Males go their way afterward and don’t participate in rearing their offspring.
Females give birth about two months later, typically to five to seven babies, although 10 are possible. At birth, the kits weigh about one ounce (28.3 gm) and are blind, deaf, scantily furred, and have barely detectable white stripes.
“Ned,” an orphaned baby skunk. (Carol VinZant / Flickr; cc by-nc-nd 2.0)
At eight days, they begin producing musk; at about three weeks, their eyes open; at six weeks, they start hunting with their mother. She teaches them all her skills: how to dig up grubs and extract larvae from logs, how to raid beehives and locate rodents, root around for eggs and insects, sample through garbage for edibles, and more.
Sometimes a mother will be seen with her kits waddling single file behind her, out for a stroll, identical miniature versions. They look adorable, but this is one time a skunk is definitely not to be messed with—very protective of her young, the mother might forego her usual warning and immediately spray.
The playful and curious kits are nearly full grown at eight weeks. They’re fully weaned and independent by then but often stay with their mother over the winter. In the spring, the young males usually wander to a different area, while females tend to remain close to their mothers. Dispersed skunks from the same litter who later meet up are said to be overjoyed at seeing each other again. The mother can breed a second time in the same year but usually doesn’t unless her first pregnancy fails.
Nesting
Striped Skunks use dens year-round. They’re in well-protected places, such as culverts, rock piles, woodpiles, in or under hollow logs, under porches and sheds, and in crawl spaces or drainpipes. If they find an abandoned animal’s den, they’ll use it.
They dig a den of their own only if they must. It may have as many as five entrances, and nesting materials include soft twigs, grasses, and leaves. Of course, they keep themselves clean and are careful not to spray within it. Still, skunks always have a slightly skunky smell, so their dens do, too.
Food sources
Skunks are omnivores and opportunists—they eat whatever they find or can catch. Their foraging helps to keep mice, rats, and shrews under control, as well as nuisance insects—grubs, grasshoppers, bees, wasps, crickets, and caterpillars, for example. They love a meal of big, juicy spiders. Yum! They also feed on fish, frogs, salamanders, turtle eggs, eggs of ground-nesting birds, young rabbits, small snakes, leftover pet food, and birdseed. They might top off a meal with grasses or nuts. A fruit salad in season is another delight, made up of fallen, spoiling fruit, such as blackberries, blueberries, and cherries.
Lifespan
The average lifespan of the Striped Skunk is about two years in the wild. Sadly, many die of starvation in their first winter, and disease also takes a toll. In captivity, they can live up to 15 years.
The next time you see a skunk lying on the side of a road, you now know it isn’t better off dead. If it’s a mother raising offspring, her young may starve to death or have now lost their teacher of life-saving skills. To her litter mates, she’s a lost playmate who squealed with joy whenever they reunited. And nature has lost an important predator.
Predators
Skunks have few predators, except human ones driving vehicles (the most common cause of their death) and those who intentionally kill them as pests. Their only other serious predator is the Great-horned Owl, which seems impervious to their foul odor, but there’s also some predation from Mountain Lions, foxes, and hawks.
Striped Skunks and rabies
Rabies is a deadly disease and a serious matter, and skunks are more prone than some other mammals to get it. Still, only 846 tested skunks were found to be infected with rabies in 2020, according to the most recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of them were in five states: Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, and Georgia. This statistic dramatically illustrates that the number of infected skunks is quite low within a population of animals that inhabits the entire country. Still, should you get bitten or scratched, immediately go to your doctor for rabies shots, the only thing that can save you if the skunk was rabid. Rabies shots are no more painful than flu shots.
Don’t assume, however, that a skunk out in the daytime is rabid. It almost certainly isn’t. On the other hand, if it’s displaying abnormal behavior, such as circling, acting aggressively, and having balance issues contact your local animal control department.
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1 The others are the Spotted, Spilogale spp., Hog-nosed, Conepatus spp., and Hooded, Mephitis macroura.
2 Despite their name, stink badgers aren’t badgers; they’re in the skunk family. They inhabit islands of the Malay Archipelago and the Philippine island of Palawan.
3 Merriam-Webster Dictionary
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