Creature Feature: A Smell Most Foul

Written by: Zach Mork, JNC naturalist

Have you ever heard of the phrase “trick or treat, smell my feet”? Halloween may now be past, but there is another creature of the forest that would smell worse than any human foot, and it does not have to be found on Halloween! It is not a swamp monster, or a creature of the Black Lagoon. Instead, it is the ferocious, uncanny, and mighty……skunk.

Indeed, this month’s creature feature is on the skunk of North America. So, plug your noses with a clothespin, and scroll on to learn more!

Striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) are members of the carnivora order of mammals. In the past, skunks used to be grouped with the weasel family, known as mustelids. However, genetic evidence in recent decades reveal that there were enough differences for skunks to be their own family; the mephitidae family. Striped skunks are found across much of North America, from southern Canada, to northern Mexico.

When describing the striped skunk, most cases can usually be described by their classic black and white striped pattern. However, individuals may also display hairs that appear brown or cream-colored. Although small in stature, the front feet of a skunk possess longer claws that are suitable for digging. Nocturnal and usually solitary, striped skunks mostly diet on insects and invertebrates. Their mating season runs from February to April, and females are pregnant for 2-3 months. Litters usually average around six kits, who follow and depend on their mother for a few months before venturing out on their own into the wild.

Skunks move across the land through a concept called plantigrade locomotion. What this means is that a skunk walks on the ground using the entirety of their foot, just like humans do. Other methods of locomotion in nature include digitigrade, where the heels or wrists are raised up, like in cats and dogs, and unguligrade, which is locomotion using the tips of the feet, like in deer and horses.

Perhaps the best known ability of the skunk is its pair of potent scent glands located  in the back of the skunk. Each scent gland contains about 15 milliliters of musky, organic sulfur-based chemicals called a thiol. Skunks are capable of spraying these chemicals from their rear from several meters away. For these reasons, predators likely will only prey on a skunk as a last resort. P-U!

Click here to learn more about the striped skunk!