Skunk, Skunk Profile
Skunk, Skunk Profile
Photograph by Gordon and Cathy Illg/Animals Animals—Earth Scenes
NationalGeographic.com
Skunk Profile
Skunks are legendary for their powerful predator-deterrent—a hard-to-remove, horrible-smelling spray. A skunk's spray is an oily liquid produced by glands under its large tail. To employ this scent bomb, a skunk turns around and blasts its foe with a foul mist that can travel as far as ten feet (three meters).
Skunk spray causes no real damage to its victims, but it sure makes them uncomfortable. It can linger for many days and defy attempts to remove it. As a defensive technique, the spray is very effective. Most skunks present otherwise easy prey for larger animals, but typically these predators give them a wide berth unless little other food is available.
There are many different kinds of skunks. They vary in size (most are housecat-sized) and appear in a variety of striped, spotted, and swirled patterns—but all are a vivid black and white that makes them easily identifiable and may alert predators to their pungent potential.
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