American Sable, Anyone?: Striped Skunk

“There’s a dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinkin’ to high heaven.” Isn’t that a song from the 70s?

This real-life skunk was probably out hunting last night, crossing the road looking for supper, when it was hit by a car. It will be surrounded by that unmistakable skunk perfume for days. It hasn’t quite wafted up to the house fortunately.

Four separate species of skunk are native to the Americas. The one we have on Owl Acres is the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis). Its Latin name is based on the Latin word for “smells bad.” Skunks are in the weasel family, and are related to weasels, ferrets, otters, badgers and wolverines.

Striped skunks are about the size of a fat cat, weighing up to 12 pounds. They have short legs and a stouter body than a cat, though. The skunk on the road is black, with a white stripe that starts at his nose, rises to a white crown on top of his head, then splits at the shoulders to run down both sides to his bushy black tail. Striping patterns are somewhat individualized, but this one is typical.

His head is more or less triangular with little rounded ears that get lost in the white fluff on top of his head. His eyes are black, suited for night vision, but he can’t see much beyond about ten feet. He uses his keen sense of smell and acute hearing to hunt and capture prey. He does this mainly by discovering a mouse or a chipmunk in an underground nest and digging it out with his long, sharp front claws, or digging into a nest of yellow jackets and stomping them as they come out.  

Skunks can run about ten miles an hour, but they don’t tend to run away from threats. Instead, they face the threat—a dog or a human for instance. They stomp their feet, raise and fluff out their tail, and hiss or growl at the threat. If, say, it’s your dog, and the dog doesn’t get the hint and skedaddle, the skunk resorts to its nuclear option. It curves its body around so that its rear is facing the dog and raises its tail. Then it lets loose. It has two scent glands, one on either side of the anus, with a ring of muscle around each. The skunk has excellent aim, and can propel its spray up to ten feet. It generally aims for the face and eyes. The spray itself comprises three separate oily and nasty sulfurous compounds called thiols. It can cause temporary blindness, and acts as a suppressant to the central nervous system. The skunk can spray up to five times before running out of ammunition. If it uses up its spray, the skunk will need about ten days to refill its arsenal. And it will take a dog and a household about that long to get rid of the smell.

The skunk’s winter coat is thick and fluffy. Long guard hairs cover the thick undercoat. Where the guard hairs are black, the undercoat is gray, and where they’re white, the undercoat is also white. The hairs fluff out about an inch around the skunk’s body rather than lying down like a dog’s hair. A market for skunk pelts goes back to the mid-1800s or earlier. Skunks were trapped, or bred for their pelts. The pelts were used as ladies’ furs. Since nobody would want to wear a skunk coat, furs were marketed as “Alaskan sable” or “American sable.” Under this evocative moniker, they were made into hats and coats, muffs and collars and everything else fur. This faux sable fell out of favor, though in the 1950s when shorter fur and a sleeker look became more fashionable. Skunks are still hunted for their pelts in some states and occasionally enjoy a renaissance in the fur industry.

Over centuries, the skunk has contributed more than just “American sable” fashion. Native Americans used the skunk’s highly concentrated musk as a treatment for pneumonia. They also made a liniment from skunk oil that they sold to trappers and settlers. It became a valued commodity. Around 1900, the State of Maine was producing about 25,000 gallons of skunk oil per year for sale at a cost of $4 per gallon. It was used the way we use Vick’s VapoRub today.

Skunks are actually quite beneficial to Owl Acres. They eat all kinds of pests, including mice, voles, gophers, chipmunks, rats, ground squirrels, insects and larvae, worms, small birds, and fish. They also eat bird eggs, fruits, nuts, seeds and just about anything else they can find, including garbage and carrion. In the summer months, they live in above-ground shelters like hollow logs and brush piles; under buildings; or in dens other animals created. During the winter, they move into warmer underground dens. Females may share a winter den. They don’t hibernate, but do pork on the fat in the fall and live off it to a large extent throughout the winter. A group of skunks is called a Surfeit. I guess more than one skunk is more than enough.

A female skunk will breed once a year and raise an average of four to five kits. Because of infectious diseases and other vulnerabilities, the odds are not in favor of a baby skunk growing up to reproduce. Still, they are able to maintain their population, and are classified as “least concern.” Skunks are generally solitary except during breeding season and are said to be docile by nature. They can carry rabies, though so should be left alone. We’ll leave them to conduct their midnight lives on their own terms and hope they enjoy the mice and the yellowjackets this summer.

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