The beautiful, majestic.... skunk?

So I wanted to try something new. I grew up always learning and reading about animals and plants and whatnot, just because I thought it was interesting. But I have come to realize that for the majority of the human population, that is not a preferred activity. So every once in a while I will be writing specific posts about different animals that I am just interested in at the time, or that I think are greatly misunderstood. This time I've chosen to focus on the skunk.

This just may be the smelliest animal in the entire animal kingdom. This mammal is part of the Weasel family. A "family" of mammals that all have scent glands, although the skunk is definitely the worst. Skunks get their bad reputation because of their stink, but it's not their fault they smell. All animals have some way they defend themselves, skunks just got stuck with a really bad stink. Some people may not think so bad about them if they knew that many of our perfumes and colognes that we wear have a base of skunk musk because this fluid they spray has such a staying quality to it. Obviously the smell is removed before we ever put it on, but the base is still there.

Skunks are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and other animals. The majority of their vegetation diet consists of different berries and fruits, while their main food sources are small rodents, insects, lizards and frogs. Their are a few different varieties of skunks that live in the U.S, the largest and most common being the striped skunk, the others are the Spotted skunk, the Hooded skunk and the Hog-nosed skunk. Skunks are primarily nocturnal which means the majority of their activities and hunting happens at night. Skunks generally live in underground burrows with multiple entrances and exits, sometimes up to eight! They will usually find a vacated burrow from another mammal such as a fox or a badger, they have also been known to share burrows with other families of skunks and even other mammals. Unlike most mammals, skunk fur is not colored for camouflage, it's colored to warn. And  because skunks know that most predators will run, they often become a common casualty to roadkill, they would rather face the vehicle down then run.

Skunks have remarkably bad eyesight (I was counting on this when I got these pictures), to make up for this, their hearing and smell (in more than one way) is incredibly strong. Skunks won't spray unless they feel extremely threatened, just like your perfume bottle they only have a limited supply of spray and they don't want to use it for just any occasion. If you ever run into a skunk just remain still and chances are it will just pass you by. Before skunks spray they will puff up their tales and even do a handstand for you. And if you do get sprayed, tomato juice is the key to getting rid of the stench. Many people will keep skunks as pets once their scent glands have been removed, they are quite cute and can be quite playful. So next time you smell skunk, just think of it as nature's perfume and continue on your merry way.