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Skunks

common name of mammals in the family Mephitidae

Skunks are omnivorous mammals in the family Mephitidae, belonging to the order Carnivora. The living skunk species are native to the Americas and belong to 10 species in 3 different genera: Conepatus (4 species), Mephitis (2 species), and Spilogale (4 species). All of the skunk species can spray a liquid with an extremely noxious scent from anal glands and also have warning coloration. Skunks have as their closest relatives the Old World stink badgers and in the 20th century (before molecular genetics) were erroneously regarded as members of the weasel family Mustelidae. In Texas and the southeastern U.S. (especially Appalachia), the word polecat refers to the striped skunk (as opposed to the European polecat).

A skunk

Quotes

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  • In February a new track appears upon the snow, slender and delicate, about a third larger than that of the gray squirrel, indicating no haste or speed, but, on the contrary, denoting the most imperturbable ease and leisure, the footprints so close together that the trail appears like a chain of curiously carved links. Sir Mephitis mephitica, or, in plain English, the skunk, has waked up from his six weeks' nap, and come out into society again. He is a nocturnal traveler, very bold and impudent, coming quite up to the barn and outbuildings, and sometimes taking up his quarters for the season under the haymow. There is no such word as hurry in his dictionary, as you may see by his path upon the snow. He has a very sneaking, insinuating way, and goes creeping about the fields and woods, never once in a perceptible degree altering his gait, and, if a fence crosses his course, steers for a break or opening to avoid climbing. He is too indolent even to dig his own hole, but appropriates that of a woodchuck, or hunts out a crevice in the rocks, from which he extends his rambling in all directions, preferring damp, thawy weather.
  • The skunk ... is represented by four species in North America. The skunk has short, stocky legs and proportionately large feet equipped with well-developed claws that enable it to be very adept at digging.
    The striped skunk ... is characterized by prominent, lateral white stripes that run down its back. Its fur is otherwise jet black. Striped skunks are the most abundant of the four species. The body of the striped skunk is about the size of an ordinary house cat (up to 29 inches [74 cm] long and weighing about 8 pounds [3.6 kg] ). The spotted skunk ... is smaller (up to 21 inches [54 cm] long and weighing about 2.2 pounds [1 kg]), more weasel- like, and is readily distinguishable by white spots and short, broken white stripes in a dense jet-black coat.
    • James E. Knight, (January 1994)"Skunks". The Handbook: Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage 42: C113–C118. (quote from p. C113)
  •       January Thaw
    Each year, after the midwinter blizzards, there comes a night of thaw when the tinkle of dripping water is heard in the land. It brings strange stirrings, not only to creatures abed for the night, but to some who have been asleep for the winter. The hibernating skunk, curled up in his deep den, uncurls himself and ventures forth to prowl the wet world, dragging his belly in the snow. His track marks one of the earliest datable events in that cycles of beginnings and ceasings which we call a year.
  • Like most 'exotics', pet skunks aren't for everyone, and skunk owners are likely the first to say this. Unlike dogs or cats, wild animals bred in captivity are not particularly suited to the constraints and expectations of human family life. Baby skunks are often sold as young as four to six weeks by licensed breeders to individuals and to pet stores in states like Indiana, Ohio and Florida, where it is legal to do so. Pet stores must have federal permits to sell the animals, and peak sale time is in June, shortly after the kits have been born. Many pet skunks live as members of the household, alongside other companion animals, though for obvious reasons they would pose a danger to small rodents. According to some, skunks can be 'corner-trained', meaning that owners can place a box of unscented cat litter in the spot where a skunk chooses to relieve himself. But skunks have minds of their own and are likely to do what they want wherever they see fit. Pet owners who understand their active charges appreciate that skunks are determined and headstrong. Despite 'domestication', pet skunks retain the needs and desires of their wild counterparts, like digging, clawing and biting. Most pet skunks are de-scented as kits, since a fully loaded pet skunk is not for the faint-hearted.
  • The skunks are a nuisance in more ways than one. They are stupid, familiar beasts, with a great predilection for visiting camps, and the shacks or huts of the settlers, to pick up any scraps of meat that may be lying round. I have time and again known a skunk to actually spend several hours of the night in perseveringly digging a hole underneath the logs of a hut, so as to get inside among the inmates. The animal then hunts about among them, and of course no one will willingly molest it; and has often been known to deliberately settle down upon and begin to eat one of the sleepers. The strange and terrible thing about these attacks is that in certain districts and at certain times the bite of the skunk is surely fatal, producing hydrophobia; and many cowmen, soldiers, and hunters have annually died from this cause. There is no wild beast in the West, no matter what its size and ferocity, so dreaded by old plainsmen as this seemingly harmless little beast.
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