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Raccoon - Deer - Bat - Woodrat - Rabbit - Skunk- Home Striped Skunk Carine Zoellner
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Photo source: http://www.whc.net/cdwr/Tour/skunk.jpg Facts Scientific Name: Mephitis mephitis Diet: I am an opportunistic omnivore, which means that I scavenge for both meat and plants. I really like insects and grubs, but will also eat small mammals, vegetative material, eggs from ground laying birds, and sometimes the occasional amphibian if I can catch it. Predators: Most mammals try to avoid me because I will spray them if they get too close to me. So my main predators are large birds of prey such as great-horned owls and red-tailed hawks. Reproduction: All of the males are polygamous and solitary, meaning that they do not choose just one mate for life. My mom only has one batch of children every year. My parents mate between mid February and mid March. My mom is pregnant for 60-77 days. Most of the time, she has 5-6 babies and boy are we helpless! When we are born, we are blind, deaf, and very immature. We have to nurse for about a month and a half. Once we are fully weaned, we follow our mom around for about a year and then go off to live on our own. Habitat: I like to live in open areas with a lot of mixed habitats such as woods, grasslands, and agricultural clearing. I am almost always living within 2 miles of a water source because I don't want to have to walk too far to get a drink. Sometimes we live in suburban areas because buildings provide lot of shelter. Hours of activity: I am a creature of the night, so they consider me to be nocturnal. During the day, I sleep in a burrow in the ground. But at night, I am all over the place!
I woke up tonight after a wonderful day of sleeping under the barn at the CalPoly organic farm. I like my little nest under the barn because there is a pond about 50 yards from my bed so I can just take a quick jaunt down to the water for a drink (how convenient!) It was such a beautiful night but I was getting a little on the hungry side, so I decided to go out for a bite to eat. I wandered around the farm for a bit and found a couple of worms under an old pot. They were really tasty! That just wasn't filling me up so I decided that some chicken eggs would really taste nice. I waddled over to the chicken coop and wriggled my way under the fence. What a feast! There were chickens scattering everywhere, not a very friendly bunch of animals if you ask me. I went to the first clutch of eggs and started gorging myself on the delicious morsels! Suddenly, I heard the voices of the student workers and could feel the ground shaking from the pounding of their feet. Well, I knew exactly what I was going to have to do. When those students got close, I lifted my tail and gave both of them a good dousing. Bet they won't come close to me again. But after that, I decided that I should probably take off. I headed back for the barn when I was suddenly dive-bombed by a great horned owl. I managed to get away and decided that I should retire to my nest because my night had been quite eventful and I was quite tired.
Hindprint
1 1/4" (32 mm) long
Track pattern. Picture source: www.enature.com
A: Odor in the court!
A: "Let us spray!"
Q: Why didn't the skunk call his parents? A: Because his phone
was out of odor! http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/jokes/category?c=19 |
