Skunks

We've been watching the old TV series M*A*S*H, and come mid-season 3, Radar O'Reilly has a little menagerie. One of his animals is a baby black-and-white striped skunk. 

We have skunks where we live. Our dog Milo has had a couple of run-ins with them in our yard, which ended up with a treatment of hydrogen pyroxide + baking soda + Dawn dishwashing soap (1 quart @ 3%, 1/4 cup, 1 tsp) to neutralize the pungent smell of their defensive spray. It worked pretty well. And lately, thanks to new fences, we don't seem to have much skunk traffic.

Radar was snuggling with a striped skunk, which is what we typically see. I've also, once, encountered a spotted skunk at our nearby Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Reserve. That's two kinds of skunk. I wondered how many more there were. Turns out, ten! Twelve species of skunk altogether, worldwide. Who knew? (Well, mephitid researchers, no doubt.)

Here are a few skunk facts. In case you were wondering.

• Skunks prefer to dine on insects (beetles, small grasshoppers, wasps, bees) and grubs, but they are opportunistic and will also gobble up bird eggs, small rodents, frogs, berries, and mushrooms. 
• Skunks are nocturnal. Although they don't hibernate, they tend to be inactive during the coldest months of the year, when they gather in communal dens for warmth. Otherwise, they are solitary.
• Skunks have litters of one to seven young in late April through early June, after a gestation of 60–75 days.  
• A skunk's sulfuric spray has a range of up to 10 feet, and its odor can be detected up to 1.5 miles.
  
• Skunks are immune to rattlesnake venom.
• A group of skunks is called a surfeit.

Skunks occur in four genera in the family Mephitidae. The twelve species are (because names!) the striped skunk and hooded skunk (Mephitis); the western spotted skunk, eastern spotted skunk, southern spotted skunk, and pygmy spotted skunk (Spilogale); the American hog-nosed skunk, striped hog-nosed skunk, Humboldt’s hog-nosed skunk, and Molina’s hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus); and the Indonesian stink badger and Palawan stink badger (Mydaus). The stink badgers are found in Indonesia, but otherwise home sweet home for skunks is North America.

Here are some pictures of these beautiful (if occasionally stinky—they're just protecting themselves!) animals.

A Sunda stink badger

A spotted skunk doing a handstand, prior to spraying

A striped skunk