Scientific classification: Skunks belong to the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, martens, and badgers.The spotted skunk, is classified as Spilogale putorius, the striped skunk as Mephitis mephitis.
What are Skunks?
Skunk are carnivore best known for the offensive odor they produce from glands on either side of the anus. The spotted skunk gives warning by standing on its front feet, and it will sometimes spray from this position, although it usually sprays after lowering its hind feet to the ground, baby skunks. Other species of skunks turn their backs, lift their tails, and eject a spray as far as 2 to 3 m (7 to 10 ft). Skunks give a churring sound when disturbed. They also growl and screech.
How do skunks look like
Skunks vary in size, but all species have black and white coloring. The striped, or common, skunk is found everywhere in the United States, Mexico, and southern Canada. Its long fur is usually black, baby skunks with a narrow white stripe on its forehead and a single (sometimes double) white stripe running from its head down its back and often onto its tail. The legs are relatively long.
What do the skunks feed on?
Skunks are omnivorous, eating small mammals, birds, eggs, and insects. They also like honey and bees. Many farmers believe that skunks keep the rodent population under control. Striped skunks breed in late winter or early spring. The den, lined with vegetation, can be a hole abandoned by another animal or a new one dug by the skunk.
What is the mode of reproduction?
The female produces one to ten young after a gestation of 59 to 77 days. The offspring suckle for eight to ten weeks and then follow the mother, hunting for food. Males remain solitary during the summer. Females and their young often den together sometimes with one male for the winter sleep, which is not a true hibernation.
What are the different species of Skunk?
Striped Skunk
The striped skunk is the most common of the thirteen species of skunks found throughout North, Central, and South America. Skunks are known primarily for their ability to spray a foul-smelling liquid when provoked. Spraying ability develops very quickly after birth, baby skunks usually by the age of one month. Although skunks can spray their victims at a maximum range of 4 to 7 m (13 to 23 ft), they are most accurate at distances of 1 to 2 m (3 to 6 ft).
Spotted Skunk
The conspicuous black-and-white coat of the spotted skunk, gives warning that this creature is better left alone. Like many other members of the weasel family, this little skunk of North American woodlands and scrub can put up quite a stink. Should its adversary persist in disturbing it, baby skunks the skunk initiates a series of escalating threats: It first brandishes its brush of a tail, then performs a handstand, and finally plants all four paws back on the ground, arches its back, and shoots its molester with a stream of stinking fluid from its anal glands.