Cool Cat #2 - The Polecat

11 days and 148 false-trigger photos after the bobcat stare-down, two more cool cats strutted through the scene. One at 3:40am, and the other in the evening at near 7pm.

Similar to bob's alert-and-ready-to-run stance, the follow-on 2 cat visits both give us a sense of the defensive postures of each species.

The first of the two was a little 'ole polecat. In this case the wonderful western spotted skunk, Spilogale gracilis - both going and coming:


Spotted skunk tail going away from camera at 3:40am


Spotted skunk doing handstand to look bigger and more threatening

Btw - the nickname "polecat" likely comes from Pepe's habit of raiding chicken coops. "Pol" coming from the Old French for chicken - "poul" - that we use today in words such as poultry.

It's not a perfect pic - tad blown out, and not quite in focus, but it shows the little skunk's defensive behavior well, and us cam trapper / field biologist types love good behavioral shots.

And if the bobcat's defensive posture was looking alert, suspicious, and ready to run, this lil spotty's message seems to be:

"Don't make me use this..!"

Btw2 - I know I'm taking liberties with the word "cat." But, I'm guessing that based on Codger's recent success, many of y'all might have thought we'd gotten a "miner's cat" - or ringtail.

But alas - no. Not yet.

And that clue probably tells you what our 3rd cool cat was...

:)

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References:

• Wikipedia - Western Spotted Skunk
• Dictionary.com - Polecat
• The Nature of a Man (this blog) - 3 Cool Cats
• The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

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