Skunks: the interesting little critter with the stinky reputation

Striped skunks don’t deserve a bad rap. Odoriferous maybe, but they release that nauseating spray with reluctance. Eminent danger will prompt warnings like the arching of backs, raising of tails, and feet stamping on the ground. These are sufficient for most people and experienced wild animals. However, this posturing rarely works with approaching vehicles. Like porcupines braced on roads with raised quills, Stomping Tom skunks that adopt-a-highway are frequently flat-lined.

In the woodland and fields I call home, skunks are off-road, longer-living and make interesting neighbours. Our house is dug into a south-facing hillside, with an earth berm along the north wall. On summer evenings one can look out to the north at eye level with the ground. Occasionally a gorgeous, shiny, black and white, long-furred tail drifts by the window. A chorus line of elegant but smaller tails follows mama. It’s lawn patrol; the local pest control officer is training her youngsters to dig for grubs. Lawns possessing brown spots are often the result of cranefly larvae and other insects burrowing in the sod. Raccoons and skunks dig out the juicy morsels called “leather jackets.” When I find tiny piles of earth beside new holes, I’m grateful. If large areas of sod are deftly flipped over, that’s black bear work.

skunk with bird By ks42day 

Skunks 101

Eastern striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) sport black fur coats with two racy, white stripes along their backs. Roughly the size of a domestic cat, males are about 15 per cent larger than females. Found in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and mainland Nova Scotia, striped skunks haven’t yet landed in Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island. They move with a deliberate amble, a slow trot or, if necessary, can muster a gallant gallop at a top speed of about 14 kilometres an hour. They emit a variety of noises that range from hisses, growls and squeals to soft, cooing sounds.

Stout, compact relatives of the weasel family, striped skunks come equipped with short legs and long claws on front paws for digging. They fare well in agricultural lands, but also dwell in forests and river valleys. They may leave the den at any hour of the day, but usually begin searching for food in late afternoon or early evening. During the night, they locate food by smell and hearing, and tend to wander over an area of about 10.4 acres.

Striped skunks consume plant and animal food in roughly equal portions during the autumn and winter seasons. Spring and summer offer more preferred foods such as grasshoppers, beetles and crickets. In agricultural areas they eat cutworms, army worms and white grubs that are injurious to crops. Skunks are considered to be beneficial around farms because they consume great numbers of rats, voles (mice) and insects that cause problems with crops.

They also tackle moles, shrews, squirrels, chipmunks and young hares (rabbits). Rarely consuming birds or their eggs, only the occasional skunk attempts to kill barnyard chickens. Given the opportunity, skunks dine on frogs, salamanders, worms, crayfish, freshwater clams, minnows and turtle eggs. They even swallow bees and wasps after stomping them. Seasonal fruits and grasses, leaves, buds, nuts, roots, grain and fungi are also on the menu. Pet skunks find the smell of household garbage irresistible.

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Babies and dens

In Saltscapes country, striped skunks usually breed in March. After a pregnancy that lasts about 62 days, females give birth to 3–8 (average 5–6) young in a den in May. Youngsters are born blind and deaf, wrinkled and only thinly covered in short hair. By three weeks of age they are fully furred, crawling and their eyes begin to open. Weaned at six to seven weeks of age, they trail the female on foraging expeditions and will hibernate with her when winter approaches.

The den near my home of Pomquet was originally excavated decades ago by a woodchuck. Its entrance is located beside a large softwood root system on a bank beside a brook. Elsewhere skunks may reside under or in a building, in a woodpile or under a stump. I recall one that settled into a Canadian Tire warehouse, to the consternation of employees.

Late October or early November prompts most skunks to begin gathering dried grasses and leaves to make a winter bed. Once, during a cold spell in early December, I watched a female gather bundles of leaves under her body, and shuffle along to the den entrance to drop them. Then she backed into the hole and repeatedly emerged to rake and pull the material into her den entrance. Hole plugging hid the entrance from view and insulated the den from the outside cold. She and the young do not normally emerge again until March.

Males, on the other hand, often become active during winter mild spells. I’ve witnessed a comical warm-up exercise that included rapid, four-legged push-ups. They may den with their family, other males or alone. I’ve located community dens in urban areas, where a steep bank on a house lot was riddled with multiple entrances.

Believe it or not, skunks are good
to eat. First Nations folks left skunk bones in the kitchen middens that archaeologists excavate and investigate.

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Dealing with problems

If an individual skunk causes serious problems around a dwelling, it can be easily live trapped. To do so, approach slowly and gently cover wire mesh traps with an old blanket or burlap. They can be transported in this manner without discharging that horrid smell. Release skunks at least four kilometres away so that they won’t return.

We are fortunate that rabies is not yet an issue in Maritime skunk populations. Distemper is an affliction that has eliminated skunks from portions of their eastern range in the past. Odd skunk behaviour should be reported to the local provincial Natural Resources Department. Needless to say, avoiding contact between skunks and livestock, pets, kids or yourself makes good sense—not to mention good scents!

A nuisance wildlife officer I knew brought an albino skunk here years ago. Without eye pigments, albinos have problems seeing in daylight—not as much of an issue with a night-active animal. We released it, and neighbours told us it wandered off to the south through Pomquet farmland. I hope it had a good life. Besides the helpful lawn patrols, I enjoy skunks’ positive, audacious attitude.