SKUNK Mephitis mephitis/Spilogale putorius

The skunks who live in our area act as if they are a little dumb. People often see skunks walking across their patios, not caring that they are being watched by anyone or anything. This "I don't care" attitude is really not that the skunk is dumb, it has a lot of nerve! The skunk has a very special weapon that it can use to protect itself: a blinding, stinky, spray that makes you want to throw up. The skunk has an odor organ under its tail. Using these organs or glands, the skunk can shoot this spray up to 6 feet away. The skunk has black and white stripes or spots to warn animals and people to stay away. In nature, colors like these stand out and are usually a warning.

There are two kinds or species of skunks found in Southern California: the larger, striped skunk, which weighs about 6 pounds and the spotted, desert, skunk which weighs about 2 pounds. Skunks are omnivorous. They eat almost any type of food people leave around. A skunk's favorite home is a basement or a cool place under a house. Most of the time, skunks come out at night to find food, but they can be seen walking around in the daytime.

The brave behavior of the skunk makes them easy prey for animals who don't have a sense of smell, or from animals with diseases such as rabies or very, very hungry coyotes. It also makes the skunk easy prey for a scientist like Jerry Dragoo who studies at Texas A & M University.

Dragoo jokes that when his friends see dead skunks on the road, they think of him. Dragoo catches skunks by just walking up to them and picking them up by the tail. His landlord wants to kick him out of his apartment and no one wants to steal his truck. Can you imagine why?

Dragoo says that skunks have attitudes like people. Some skunks never get used to people. If you get too close, they will raise their tails and shoot at you! Others act like pets and hardly ever raise their tails. Dragoo has a pet skunk named Penny (as in one scent). Penny would climb in Dragoo's lap as soon as he starts to eat graham crackers and try to take them out of his mouth. He finally let Penny go back into the wild.

Skunks often go places even though they are not invited. They help people because they eat a lot of insects and mice. On the bad side, skunks make people mad by digging up their yards and gardens. They also eat the underground parts of plants, like flower bulbs.