Striped Skunk

The English word skunk has two root words of Algonquian and Iroquoian origin, specifically seganku (Abenaki) and scangaresse (Huron). The Cree and Ojibwe word shee-gawk is the root word for Chicago, which means 'skunk-land'.

The striped skunk is a stoutly-built, short-limbed animal with a small, conical head and a long, heavily furred tail.  The feet are plantigrade with bare soles, and are not as broad or flat as those of hog-nosed skunks. The forefeet are armed with five long, curved claws adapted for digging, while those on the hind feet are shorter and straighter. The color patterns of the fur vary greatly, but generally consist of a black base with a white stripe extending from the head which divides along the shoulders, continuing along the flanks to the rump and tail. Some specimens have a white patch on the chest, while others bear white stripes on the outer surface of the front limbs. Brown or cream-colored mutations occasionally occur.

Skunks, they possess highly developed musk-filled scent glands to ward off predators. This oily, yellow-colored musk consists of a mixture of powerfully odorous thiols (sulfur analogues of alcohols, in older sources called "mercaptans"), which can be sprayed at a distance of several meters.

• Farting

Striped skunks are polygamous omnivores with few natural predators, save for birds of prey. While primarily an insectivore, the striped skunk is adaptable enough to incorporate other animals and even vegetable matter into its diet. The most frequently consumed insects include grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, caterpillars, other insect larvae and bees. The skunk will also consume vegetable matter, such as apples, blueberries, black cherries, ground cherries, corn and nightshade when in season. Striped skunks are known to use their sharp claws to tear apart rotting logs to find grubs, dig in the soil for insects, and pin down prey. Their practice of digging leaves small-but-noticeable pits in the ground, which can provide evidence of their presence in an area. Mammalian predators typically avoid skunks, unless they are starving. Such predators include cougars, coyotes, bobcats, badgers, and red and gray foxes. Predatory birds, including golden and bald eagles, and great horned owls tend to have greater success in hunting skunks, though they still risk being blinded by their prey's musk.

The striped skunk is polygamous, and normally breeds once a year, though yearling females who have failed to mate may enter a second estrous cycle a month after the first. The mating season usually occurs between mid-February to mid-April, though it is delayed at higher latitudes. Prior to copulating, the males' testicles swell during the January–February period, with maximum size being attained in March. Males during this period will cover much ground in their search for females, sometimes covering 4 km (2.5 mi) per night. With their short, stubby legs, it isn't easy for a skunk to outrun a predator. The striped skunk has developed a unique defense system. When a skunk is threatened, it first tries to run away from the predator, the skunk is primarily nocturnal. It sleeps in its burrow during the day and hunts at night. It usually doesn't dig its own burrow. It looks for an abandoned burrow or finds a natural hollow under a tree or building.

Striped skunks are solitary, typically docile animals. They often live in the abandoned dens of other mammals during the day, or take up residence in hollowed logs, brush piles or underneath buildings. They prefer underground dens in colder winter climates. While not truly hibernating, striped skunks experience extended periods of inactivity during winter.

Skunks are defensive and shy to humans and other large animals using smelling fluid and fart too peels and runs away. For the Muscogee people, the skunk represented family loyalty and defense of loved ones. The Winnebago people used the skunk to symbolize vanity, being beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside.

Striped skunks that occur across much of North America, including southern Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico, this few skunks of its wide range and ability to adapt to human-modified environments.

• Movement Pattern: Random

• Individual Type: Solo

• Population Trend: Increasing

• Population: ???

• Locomotion: Terrestrial

• Habitat: All

• Earth: Canada; Mexico; United States (except Hawaii and Alaska)

Coming soon

The earliest fossil finds attributable to Mephitis were found in the Broadwater site in Nebraska, dating back to the early Pleistocene less than 1.8 million years ago. By the late Pleistocene (70,000–14,500 years ago), the striped skunk was widely distributed throughout the southern United States, and it expanded northwards and westwards by the Holocene (10,000–4,500 years ago) following the retreat of the Wisconsin glacier.

They have a long history of association with humans, having been trapped and captively bred for their fur and kept as pets. The striped skunk is one of the most recognizable of North America's animals, and is a popular figure in cartoons and children's books.

• Abenaki: Seganku

• Atikamekw: Cikakw

• Chipewyan: Nool'-tsee-a

• Cree: Shee-gawk

• Ojibwe: Zhigaag

• Tŝilhqot’in (Chilcotin): Guli

• Huron: Scangaresse

• Ogallala Sioux: Mah-kah

• Yankton Sioux: Mah-cah

• Ákán: Odompo

• Standard Arabic: ظربان أمريكي مخطط

• Egyptian Arabic: ظربان مخطط

• Aragonés: Mofeta

• Български: Ивичест скункс

• Brezhoneg: Skoñs roudennek

• Català: Mofeta ratllada

• Čeština: Skunk pruhovaný

• Deutsch: Streifenskunk

• English: Striped skunk

• Español: Mofeta rayada

• Eesti: Skunk

• Euskara: Mofeta arrunta

• Suomi: Haisunäätä

• Français: Mouffette rayée

• Georgian: მყრალა

• Greek: Μεφίτης

• Hebrew: בואש מפוספס

• Magyar: Csíkos bűzösborz

• Italiano: Moffetta comune, moffetta striata

• Nihon: シマスカンク

• Kazakh: Жолақты скунс

• Hangeul: 줄무늬스컹크

• Latvian: Svītrainais skunkss

• Luxembourghish: Sténk

• Mongolian: Судалт өмхий хүрэн

• Nederlands: Gestreepte skunk

• Diné Bizaad: Gólízhii noodǫ́zígíí

• Polski: Skunks zwyczajny

• Português: Cangambá

• Punjabi: تعاریاں والا سکنک

• Russian: Полосатый скунс

• Svenska: Strimmig skunk

• Türkçe: Bayağı şeritli kokarca

• Ukrainian: Скунс смугастий

• Vietnamese: Chồn hôi sọc

• 中文: 臭鼬

• The first skunk.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_skunk

• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q368495

• https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mephitis_mephitis

• https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Mephitis_mephitis/

• https://www.gbif.org/species/5219380

• http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=48141

• https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/MEPHME

• http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/TaxBrowser_TaxonPage?taxid=12544

• https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/3ZT5J

• 
  

• https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41635/45211301

• https://nhpbs.org/natureworks/stripedskunk.htm

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Striped-Skunk-901959074