Eastern Spotted Skunk
Eastern Spotted Skunk
By Stefanie Pennington
Animal Diversity Web
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
Habitat
Spilogale putorius occupies mostly wooded areas and tall-grass prairies and many times prefers rocky habitats. It lives in holes either self-dug or abandoned burrows from other animals. Except during mating season, these skunks prefer to live with several skunks in one burrow.(Davis and Schmidley 1994, Grzmek 1972)
Food Habits
These skunks are omnivorous. Their natural food sources depend on the seasons: In winter, they eat cottontails and corn; in spring, native field mice and insects; in summer, insects with small amounts of fruits, birds, and birds' eggs, and in fall, predominately insects. They are excellent rodent catchers. -S.putorius- has also been known to knock down beehives for the honeycomb, despite the many bee stings the animal receives. (Davis and Schmidley 1994, Grzmek 1972)
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