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Striped Skunk
Mephitis mephitis
37.5526, -122.092
Field Notes
Description:
From the weasel family. Black with white strips that start from a white crown along the back to the tail. Short legs and small face.
Some are carriers of rabies. Can be found in early morning and at dusk. They usually have routes like raccoons they follow to find food. Their scent glands, when threatened, can spray up to 10ft and can cause temporarily blindness if it gets in the eyes. The smell of the skunk can be detected almost a mile away.
They are scavengers and foragers, eating berries, insects, small animals and they favor beehives.
Habitat:
Mostly found in forests they have adapted to finding places to live urban settings being easy to find food.
Notes:
I was walking along a trail and heard some noise. It was foraging in a dead stump. Thinking it was the resident fox. Glad I waited til it was walking away and not toward me.
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