How Old Do Skunks Have To Be To Spray

Common proper name of mammals in the family Mephitidae

Not to exist confused with Polecat.

Skunks
Striped skunks
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Society:	Carnivora
Superfamily:	Musteloidea
Family:	Mephitidae
Groups included
Conepatus Mephitis Spilogale †Brachyprotoma
Skunk genera ranges
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa
Mydaus †Palaeomephitis †Promephitis

Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Unlike species of skunk vary in advent from black-and-white to brownish, cream or ginger colored, but all accept warning coloration.

While related to polecats and other members of the weasel family unit, skunks have as their closest relatives the Old World stink badgers.^[1]

Taxonomy [edit]

In alphabetical order, the living species of skunks are:^[ii]

• Family Mephitidae
  • Genus: Conepatus
    • Conepatus chinga – Molina's squealer-nosed skunk
    • Conepatus humboldtii – Humboldt'south hog-nosed skunk
    • Conepatus leuconotus – American grunter-nosed skunk
    • Conepatus semistriatus – striped grunter-nosed skunk
  • Genus: Mephitis
    • Mephitis macroura – hooded skunk
    • Mephitis mephitis – striped skunk
  • Genus: Spilogale
    • Spilogale angustifrons – southern spotted skunk
    • Spilogale gracilis – western spotted skunk
    • Spilogale putorius – eastern spotted skunk
    • Spilogale pygmaea – pygmy spotted skunk

Terminology [edit]

The discussion skunk is dated from the 1630s, adjusted from a southern New England Algonquian language (probably Abenaki) seganku , from Proto-Algonquian *šeka:kwa , from *šek- 'to urinate' + *-a:kw 'fox'.^[iii] Skunk has historic use equally an insult, attested from 1841.^[4]

In 1634, a skunk was described in The Jesuit Relations:

The other is a low animal, virtually the size of a piddling canis familiaris or cat. I mention it hither, not on business relationship of its excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or 4 of them. Information technology has black fur, quite beautiful and shining; and has upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the cervix and tail, making an oval that adds greatly to their grace. The tail is bushy and well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Play tricks; it carries it curled back like that of a Squirrel. It is more white than black; and, at the beginning glance, you would say, especially when it walks, that it ought to exist called Jupiter's little dog. Just it is so stinking and casts so foul an odor, that it is unworthy of being called the dog of Pluto. No sewer e'er smelled so bad. I would non have believed it if I had not smelled it myself. Your eye almost fails you lot when you approach the beast; two have been killed in our court, and several days afterward in that location was such a dreadful odor throughout our house that we could not endure it. I believe the sin smelled by Saint Catherine de Sienne must have had the aforementioned vile smell.^[5]

In Southern United States dialect, the term polecat is sometimes used as a colloquial nickname for a skunk,^[vi] even though polecats are only distantly related to skunks.

As a verb, skunk is used to describe the act of overwhelmingly defeating an opponent in a game or competition. Skunk is also used to refer to certain stiff-smelling strains of marijuana whose smell has been compared to that of a skunk's spray.

Clarification [edit]

Skunk species vary in size from near 15.half dozen to 37 in (40 to 94 cm) long and in weight from about 1.1 lb (0.50 kg) (spotted skunks) to 18 lb (eight.2 kg) (hog-nosed skunks). They have moderately elongated bodies with relatively brusque, well-muscled legs and long forepart claws for digging. They have five toes on each human foot.

Dorsum left human foot of an albino skunk

Although the most common fur colour is black and white, some skunks are dark-brown or greyness and a few are foam-colored. All skunks are striped, even from nativity. They may have a single thick stripe beyond the dorsum and tail, 2 thinner stripes, or a series of white spots and cleaved stripes (in the case of the spotted skunk).

Behavior [edit]

A skunk in Ontario, Canada

Skunks are crepuscular and solitary animals when not breeding, though in the colder parts of their range, they may gather in communal dens for warmth. During the day they shelter in burrows, which they tin can dig with their powerful front claws. For most of the yr the normal home range for skunks is 0.v to 2.0 miles in diameter, with males expanding during breeding season to travel 4 to five miles per night.^[7]

Skunks are not true hibernators in the wintertime, but practice den up for extended periods of time. Nevertheless, they remain mostly inactive and feed rarely, going through a dormant phase.^[8] Over winter, multiple females (as many equally 12) huddle together; males oft den alone. Often, the same winter den is repeatedly used.

Although they have excellent senses of smell and hearing, they have poor vision, being unable to run across objects more than than most iii m (10 ft) abroad, making them vulnerable to expiry by road traffic. They are brusk-lived; their lifespan in the wild can reach 7 years, with near living only up to a year.^{[9] [ten]} In captivity, they may live for upwards to 10 years.^{[nine] [10]}

Reproduction [edit]

Skunks mate in early spring and are polygynous (that is, successful males are uninhibited from mating with boosted females.)

Earlier giving birth (normally in May), the female excavates a den to house her litter of four to 7 kits.

Skunks are placental, with a gestation period of about 66 days.^[11]

When born, skunk kits are blind and deaf, just already covered by a soft layer of fur. Near three weeks after nativity, they offset open up their eyes; the kits are weaned about two months later birth. They mostly stay with their female parent until they are ready to mate, roughly at ane year of age.

The female parent is protective of her kits, spraying at whatever sign of danger. The male person plays no function in raising the immature.^[12]

Diet [edit]

Skunks are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal cloth and changing their diets as the seasons change. They swallow insects, larvae, earthworms, grubs, rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles, and eggs. They also normally eat berries, roots, leaves, grasses, fungi and nuts.

In settled areas, skunks likewise seek garbage left past humans. Less often, skunks may exist found acting every bit scavengers, eating bird and rodent carcasses left past cats or other animals. Pet owners, particularly those of cats, may experience a skunk finding its style into a garage or basement where pet food is kept. Skunks unremarkably dig holes in lawns in search of grubs and worms.

Skunks utilise their long claws to intermission apart rotting logs to find bugs that live within them. They as well employ those claws to help dig for insects, which leaves backside pits, which are easy signs of foraging. The claws likewise help with pining down alive and active prey. ^[13]

Skunks are ane of the primary predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings. The skunk scratches at the front of the beehive and eats the baby-sit bees that come out to investigate.^[xiv] Mother skunks are known to teach this behavior to their young.

Spray [edit]

Striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) in a defensive posture with erect and puffed tail, indicating its readiness to spray.

Skunks are notorious for their anal aroma glands, which they can apply every bit a defensive weapon. They are like to, though much more developed than, the glands found in species of the family unit Mustelidae. Skunks have ii glands, one on each side of the anus. These glands produce the skunk's spray, which is a mixture of sulfur-containing chemicals such equally thiols (traditionally called mercaptans), which take an offensive odor. The thiols also brand their spray highly flammable.^{[15] [16]} A skunk's spray is powerful enough to ward off bears and other potential attackers.^[17] Muscles located next to the odour glands allow them to spray with a high degree of accuracy, as far every bit iii g (x ft).^[xviii] The spray can also cause irritation and fifty-fifty temporary incomprehension, and is sufficiently powerful to be detected by a human olfactory organ up to 5.6 km (3.5 miles) downwind.^[xix] Their chemical defence force is effective, as illustrated by this extract from Charles Darwin'southward 1839 book The Voyage of the Beagle:

Nosotros saw also a couple of Zorrillos, or skunks—odious animals, which are far from uncommon. In general appearance, the Zorrillo resembles a polecat, but it is rather larger and much thicker in proportion. Conscious of its power, information technology roams by day about the open plain and fears neither canis familiaris nor human being. If a dog is urged to the attack, its courage is instantly checked past a few drops of the fetid oil, which brings on tearing sickness and running at the nose. Any is one time polluted past information technology, is forever useless. Azara says the aroma can exist perceived at a league distance; more than once, when inbound the harbour of Monte Video, the wind being offshore, we have perceived the aroma onboard the Beagle. Certain it is, that every animal most willingly makes room for the Zorrillo.^[20]

Skunks comport just plenty for v or 6 successive sprays – nigh xv cmⁱⁱⁱ – and require up to ten days to produce another supply.^[21] Their bold black and white coloration makes their appearance memorable. It is to a skunk'south reward to warn possible predators off without expending odor: black and white aposematic warning coloration bated, threatened skunks will get through an elaborate routine of hisses, foot-stamping, and tail-loftier deimatic or threat postures before resorting to spraying. Skunks usually exercise not spray other skunks, except amid males in the mating flavour. If they fight over den infinite in autumn, they do so with teeth and claws.^[22]

Nigh predators of the Americas, such as wolves, foxes, and badgers, seldom attack skunks, presumably out of fright of being sprayed. The exceptions are reckless predators whose attacks neglect in one case they are sprayed, dogs, and the great horned owl,^[23] which is the skunk'south only regular predator.^[24] Once, the remains of 57 striped skunks were establish in a single great horned owl nest.^[25]

Skunks are common in suburban areas. Frequent encounters with dogs and other domestic animals, and the release of the odor when a skunk is run over, take led to many misconceptions well-nigh the removal of skunk odor, including the pervasive idea that love apple juice will neutralize the odor. These household remedies are ineffective, and only announced to work due to olfactory fatigue.^[26] The Humane Lodge of the U.s.a. recommends treating dogs using a mixture of dilute hydrogen peroxide (3%), baking soda, and dishwashing liquid.^[27]

Skunk spray is composed mainly of 3 low-molecular-weight thiol compounds, (E)-two-butene-1-thiol, three-methyl-ane-butanethiol, and 2-quinolinemethanethiol, as well as acetate thioesters of these.^{[28] [29] [thirty] [31] [32]} These compounds are detectable by the human olfactory organ at concentrations of simply 11.3 parts per billion.^{[33] [34]}

Relations with humans [edit]

Bites [edit]

It is rare for a healthy skunk to seize with teeth a human, though a tame skunk whose scent glands accept been removed (usually on behalf of those who volition keep information technology as a pet) may defend itself by bitter. In that location are, however, few recorded incidents of skunks biting humans. Skunk bites in humans can result in infection with the rabies virus. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recorded 1,494 cases of rabies in skunks in the Usa for the year 2006—about 21.5% of reported cases in all species.^{[35] [36]} Skunks in fact are less prominent than raccoons as vectors of rabies. (However, this varies regionally in the United States, with raccoons dominating along the Atlantic declension and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, while skunks instead predominate throughout the Midwest, including the western Gulf, and in California.)

As pets [edit]

Mephitis mephitis, the striped skunk, is the most social skunk and the one most commonly kept equally a pet. In the US, skunks tin legally be kept as pets in 17 states.^[37] When a skunk is kept as a pet, its scent glands are oftentimes surgically removed.^[37]

A pet albino skunk on a walk

In the United kingdom, skunks tin be kept as pets,^[38] but the Animal Welfare Act 2006 made information technology illegal to remove their scent glands.^[39]

See also [edit]

• List of fictional musteloids
• Skunk oil

References [edit]

1. ^ "Former World skunk". Retrieverman.internet. ii November 2015. Retrieved thirteen December 2018.
2. ^ Wilson, D. Due east.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
3. ^ "skunk (n.)". Online Etymology Lexicon. Retrieved eighteen March 2021.
4. ^ Harper, Douglas. "skunk". Online Etymology Dictionary.
5. ^ Thwaites, Reuben Gilded, ed. (1633–1634). The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France 1610—1791. Vol. Six. Quebec. Archived from the original on 15 December 2001.
6. ^ "Skunk Fact Sheet" (PDF). The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division.
7. ^ Brittingham, Margaret (23 June 2006). "Skunks - Solutions to Common Bug". PennState Extension. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
8. ^ "Striped Skunk | Adirondack Ecological Heart | SUNY ESF | College of Environmental Science and Forestry". world wide web.esf.edu . Retrieved four December 2022.
9. ^ ^{a b} ADW: Mephitis mephitis: INFORMATION. Animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu. Retrieved on 5 Apr 2012.
10. ^ ^{a b} Virtual Nature Trail. Striped Skunk. The Pennsylvania State University (2002).
11. ^ "Skunks Direction Guidelines". Ipm.ucdavis.edu.
12. ^ "Eastern Spotted Skunk". Missouri Department of Conservation . Retrieved 23 Feb 2019.
13. ^ "Striped Skunk | Adirondack Ecological Center | SUNY ESF | Higher of Environmental Science and Forestry". www.esf.edu . Retrieved 6 December 2022.
14. ^ Apr (viii March 2022). "Exercise Skunks Eat Bees? (If Yes, Why Do They?)". Exploration Squared . Retrieved 4 December 2022.
15. ^ "18 Interesting Facts Near Skunks". Wildlife Informer.
16. ^ "Is That Skunk? Skunk Spray Chemistry". Nature.
17. ^ "Inquire a Bear: Skunk Spray as Deterrent?". iv May 2011.
18. ^ "Skunks: Notorious—or Non?Skunks: Notorious—or Not?". National Wildlife Federation . Retrieved 6 December 2022.
19. ^ "19 Stinky Skunk Facts". Fact Animal . Retrieved 6 December 2022.
20. ^ Darwin, Charles (1839). Voyage of the Beagle. London, England: Penguin. ISBN0-fourteen-043268-Ten . Retrieved 27 June 2006.
21. ^ Biological science and Control of Skunks. Agriculture and Rural Development. Government of Alberta, Canada. 1 June 2002
22. ^ "Do Skunks Fight Each Other?". www.wildlife-removal.com . Retrieved half-dozen December 2022.
23. ^ "Oregon Zoo Animals: Great Horned Owl". Oregonzoo.org. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
24. ^ "Peachy Horned Owl". The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
25. ^ Hunter, Luke (2011). Carnivores of the Globe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Academy Press. ISBN978-0-691-15228-8. ^{[ page needed ]}
26. ^ Is information technology true that tomato plant sauce will get rid of the smell of a skunk?. Scienceline. Retrieved on v April 2012.
27. ^ "De-skunking your dog". The Humane Society of the United States.
28. ^ Andersen Chiliad. K.; Bernstein D. T. (1978). "Some Chemic Constituents of the Olfactory property of the Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis)". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 1 (4): 493–499. doi:10.1007/BF00988589. S2CID 9451251.
29. ^ Andersen K. K.; Bernstein D. T. (1978). "1-Butanethiol and the Striped Skunk". Journal of Chemical Education. 55 (3): 159–160. Bibcode:1978JChEd..55..159A. doi:10.1021/ed055p159.
30. ^ Andersen K. K.; Bernstein D. T.; Caret R. Fifty.; Romanczyk L. J. Jr. (1982). "Chemical Constituents of the Defensive Secretion of the Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis)". Tetrahedron. 38 (thirteen): 1965–1970. doi:x.1016/0040-4020(82)80046-X.
31. ^ Woods Westward. F.; Sollers B. G.; Dragoo G. A.; Dragoo J. West. (2002). "Volatile Components in Defensive Spray of the Hooded Skunk, Mephitis macroura". Periodical of Chemical Environmental. 28 (9): 1865–70. doi:ten.1023/A:1020573404341. PMID 12449512. S2CID 19217201.
32. ^ Forest, William F. "Chemistry of Skunk Spray". Dept. of Chemistry, Humboldt State University. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
33. ^ Wood, William F. (1999). "The History of Skunk Defensive Secretion Enquiry" (PDF). Chem. Educator. four (2): 44–l. doi:10.1007/s00897990286a. S2CID 94181805. Archived from the original (PDF) on ii September 2003.
34. ^ Aldrich, T.B. (1896). "A chemic study of the secretion of the anal glands of mephitis mephitica (common skunk), with remarks on the physiological properties of this secretion". J. Exp. Med. ane (two): 323–340. doi:ten.1084/jem.1.2.323. PMC2117909. PMID 19866801.
35. ^ Blanton J.D.; Hanlon C.A.; Rupprecht C.E. (2007). "Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2006". Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 231 (four): 540–56. doi:10.2460/javma.231.four.540. PMID 17696853. ; Updated in Dyer JL, Yager P, Orciari L, Greenberg Fifty, Wallace R, Hanlon CA, Blanton JD (2014). "Rabies surveillance in the Usa during 2013". J Am Vet Med Assoc. 245 (x): 1111–23. doi:10.2460/javma.245.10.1111. PMC5120391. PMID 25356711.
36. ^ "Rabies Surveillance The states 2006" (PDF). U.S. Centers for Disease Command and Prevention.
37. ^ ^{a b} "Is That Skunk? | Practise Skunks Make Good Pets?". PBS. 20 November 2008.
38. ^ "A stink in the tale: Why United kingdom is swooning over the pet with a pong". The Independent. 23 April 2011.
39. ^ "Animal Welfare Human activity 2006" (PDF) . Retrieved 5 December 2009.

External links [edit]

• Skunk at Curlie
• Skunks and the direction of skunk damage Archived 13 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk

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