Species Spotlight : Skunks
 Striped skunk |
What’s black and white and striped all over? Zebras don’t naturally occur in Florida, so let your nose guide you to some smaller, furrier mammals that range throughout most of the state. You may have already met a striped or spotted skunk at a campground at dusk, as it ambled between picnic tables and tents in search of food. Or, more likely, you caught a whiff of a road-killed skunk on one of Florida’s back roads.
Two species of skunks – the striped and the spotted - occur everywhere in Florida except the Keys. The striped skunk is about the size of a house cat, while its spotted cousin is squirrel-sized. The stripes on the spotted skunk are broken and wavy, making them appear as spots. Both skunk species have similarly potent scent glands and omnivorous diets, but they differ in their habitat preferences: spotted skunks prefer fallow fields, pastures and other dry, disturbed areas; striped skunks have more eclectic habitat preferences and frequent brushy fields and the edges of more heavily timbered areas.
 Spotted skunk |
On the average, five hairless young are born to each female skunk in the spring. When they are about six weeks old, the young follow their mother on food forays, searching for small animals such as insects, mice and amphibians, and roots, seeds and other plant parts. The mother and young stay together for several months, emerging from their underground burrows each day, primarily in late afternoon or evening.
In addition to teaching their young how to find food, mother skunks also model defensive strategies, the most effective of these being a pungent spray of oily musk from scent glands located near the anus. The spray is effectively aimed at targets up to 15 feet away. The spray deters predators such as foxes, bobcats and domestic dogs, but doesn’t seem to discourage great-horned and barred owls, which occasionally feast on Florida’s most aromatic residents.
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