SKUNKS! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Self-made chemicals

The spray is produced by their anal glands and, chemically speaking, it's (E)-2-butene-1-thiol, 3-methyl-1-butanethiol, 2-quinolinemethanethiol, and their acetate thioesters. The combination of thioacetates and carbon and hydrogen groupings have an extra bonus: when water first hits them, it rearranges them into more a more potent chemical configuration. That's why after being "skunked", hosing down a dog or taking a shower will make the smell worse! However, it will eventually wash off, and with frequent bathing, the smell should be gone in about a week.

Answer: 3 miles

Their spray can be smelled in a concentration as small as 10 parts per billion. In a small town, everybody gets a sniff!

Answer: Great Horned Owl

A wild animal won't attack another skunk after being sprayed once (unless it's incredibly stupid). Surprisingly enough, the great horned owl doesn't seem to be affected by the power of skunk spray. It may be that the owl can silently snatch and kill the skunk before it has time to spray. One study of a GHO's nest resulted in finding the remains of 57 skunks.

Answer: Male pattern hair loss

The spray can be quite detrimental to people with breathing problems, such as COPD or asthma. Nearly everybody who gets a direct spray will vomit. Getting sprayed in the eyes is very painful and will cause temporary loss of sight, but thorough rinsing will clean it out and the eyes will be fine in a day or so. Be aware: if a skunk starts acting agitated near you, quietly and gently walk away.

Answer: It attracts food for them

No, it doesn't attract food. They have enough for five or six quick squirts (about 15cc), are quite accurate with their spray (up to about ten feet), and if they run out, it takes up to ten days to "reload." A skunk will hiss, go through an elaborate routine of dancing, foot-stamping, tail-raising and threatening postures before finally resorting to doing what they're best known for.

Answer: They escaped after being brought in as pets

Yes, they escaped (or were intentionally released). It's legal to have a pet skunk in the UK (with a license), but the Animal Welfare Act of 2006 made it illegal to remove their scent glands except as medical requirements. I'm sure there are a lot of pet skunks in the UK that have "medical requirements" (and understandably so).

Answer: When males fight for mating rights

You know how rowdy boys can get. Just about the only time a skunk will spray another is when they fight over girl skunks. When they squabble and argue over den space in the fall (they don't really hibernate, but they do become dormant), they use their teeth and powerful claws.

Answer: Determine where the skunk wants to "go" and put the litter box in that spot

A pet skunk will sniff out the best spot to do its "business." Put the litter box right there and keep it clean; a skunk will avoid a dirty box.

Answer: No vaccine for rabies has been approved for skunks

Skunks don't respond to medicines and treatment like dogs or cats, so no government-approved vaccine or quarantine period has been developed for them. In an unfortunate majority of the time, if a pet skunk bites a person, it's euthanized by animal control so that its brain cells can be tested for rabies.

Answer: False

Like ferrets, pet skunks don't have "homing instincts" and will roam. Wild skunks use scent markers to recognize their own territory, but pets will get lost easily. Most of them have also lost their most powerful defense mechanism: their spray glands.