Friday, February 14, 2014

Love Is in the Air

February 14th is here, and the aroma d'amour is in the air.

Especially if you're a striped skunk.

For it's the time of year when Pepé wanders far and wide in search of love.

And, while doing so, not only do skunks waft a little scent to broadcast their availability, they also commonly get smacked on roads, creating musk explosion zones.

Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you


- Lynyrd Skynyrd

Not sure all the roadkills are a bad thing, btw. Striped skunks are favored and live in high densities around us humans, so thinning with wheel-whacks might be a necessary evil population control. Either that, or we need more great horned owls, which are their typ top predator.

But, unfortunate endings aside, they are a wonderful animal, and my cam traps commonly capture their increased roamings as Saint Valentine's approaches.

striped skunk

striped skunk

striped skunk

striped skunk

And while they generally just look like black & white clones, with good photos you can usually identify different individuals.

For example, these 3 from the same spot are obviously different skunks. Note their scars and stripes - especially the ones on their faces:

striped skunk

striped skunk

striped skunk

However - sometimes they don't give the camera a good look:

striped skunk on run

Or they give it too much of one...

striped skunk butt

But occasionally, they're picture perfect:

striped skunk

They're also smart, social and curious, and not only do they hang with other skunks, they also sometimes den and forage with raccoons, opossums and feral cats.

2 striped skunks

And, although they do have the bad habit of digging divots in lawns for grubs and cutworms, they also do us a solid by keeping ground hives of yellowjackets and wasps in check.

A couple of examples of striped skunk clean ups:

dug out hornet's nest

big hornet nest

But, you ask, how do they avoid getting stung a thousand times?

They dig 'em out at night, when the wasps are cold and can't see well.

See - smart.

Hopefully enough will learn to avoid our roads.

Because I stepped in a hornet's nest once, and it was not a pleasant experience.

So - the next time your nostrils catch a whiff of le pew - as you scrunch your face also keep your eyes on the asphalt. And say a thanks to los zorrillos.

Or, perhaps a hearty "Happy Valentine's Day Pepé! Get some, but be safe!"

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8 comments:

  1. A skunk with a feral cat -- now that is a shot worth camera-trapping the neighborhood for. I recently set a cam in my back yard to see what was digging it up. It wasn't the rat. I suspected the squirrel since I've seen him digging up nuts (peppernuts and acorns brought home from Mt. Tam and planted by yours truly), but I caught a skunk too. I think the dreaded red rectangle of LEDs frightened him off, though. I only got a facing-camera shot, then the hind end as he retreated.

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    1. Skunks are digging machines. It's what they do and part of their niche, which would typically be digging out mice or voles or like. Most folks in suburbia have no idea how often skunks come through their yard. I put a cam out in my backyard every so often as a test, and I get skunks and raccoons every few days. And it's not really the grubs they're coming after - it's cat and dog food, garbage, etc.

      If you get a skunk and feral cat in the same cam trap shot it'll be a solid catch for sure. But then, pretty much any shot with more than 1 species in it tends to be great. Even if one of the species is dangling out of the mouth of the other.

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  2. Thank you for the explanation my husb. & I were searching for this last month or 2--SO many skunks DOA on the road.

    However, as a gardener, I would like to say I think their habit of digging up cutworms is a VERY good habit, 'cause those things can chew through an entire row of peas, eating only 1 mm of plant, while destroying your year's crop. I heart them digging around our property, but they are fenced out of the garden.

    Re: smarty: I now have to lock the coop up at night 'cause a local smarty skunk figured out how to get into our coop at night and eat chicken food, poop in a fluffy-bedding-festooned corner, drink from the waterer, and chill in a protected place. SMART.

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    1. Ha! They'll eat the eggs and chicks too, so you def want them outta there.

      As for cutworms - I don't have a lawn, so am with ya on that heart, bb!

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  3. I just got a pile of clips of them too, with 3 making regular visits to a hollow log and scent marking it. One clip of trailing. We'll see what develops there.

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  4. Our skunks haven't come out yet up here....but I expect any day now. It's been much colder then normal for us, though. Great post, RT. Skunks are great!

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  5. Very nice photos and post. Interesting how uniform the pattern is on the skunks in your pictures. Here in PA we see a wide variety of stripe patterns, from just a spot behind the head to such wide white stripes that there is hardly any black on the animal.

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    1. I agree Woody. I've seen the occasional wide variation, but for the most part the skunks in the SC Mtns are pretty uniform.

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