Striped Skunk
Although you would think that no predator would think of preying on, much less eating, a striped skunk, there are a few mammals, including coyotes, foxes and bobcats, that do just that, but only if they are in danger of starving. One predator that routinely dines on skunks is the great horned owl. One summer night I made out the silhouette of an owl flying in my direction, and as it flew by me its identity was confirmed by the skunk-like odor that accompanied it.
Great information and picture. I guess there are no starving foxes in Windsor then, or Great Horned Owls either, as there are ample skunks. Also woodchucks. Do foxes prey on woodchucks?
April 22, 2012 at 1:20 am
Yes, foxes do eat woodchucks! Especially young ones.
April 22, 2012 at 2:02 am
Young woodchucks, that is.
April 22, 2012 at 3:28 am
Do birds have much of a sense of smell? Lyanda Lynne Haupt writes that it is a misconception that touching eggs or chicks will cause the parents to reject the young, but doesn’t go into birds’ sense of smell in general. Your post powerfully raises the question.
April 22, 2012 at 1:49 am
Hi Kellyann,
In most birds the sense of smell is barely developed, and thus you can, indeed, touch their eggs or chicks (to replace one that has fallen from the nest, for instance) without causing the adult bird to abandon the eggs or young. The turkey vulture does use its sense of smell (and sight) to locate carrion. Kiwis, of New Zealand, have the strongest sense of smell of all birds — while searching for earthworms to eat, they sniff the ground with nostrils located at the tip of their upper mandible!
April 22, 2012 at 2:18 am
Wow – cool! Thanks!
April 22, 2012 at 1:11 pm
When I first moved to Vermont back in the seventies, my neighbor, an old-time Vermonter, was out on his porch(in the Meadows in Montpelier) with a friend very late in the evening, with Hav-A-Heart traps set out for a skunk that had been a “problem” of late. Their intention, though, was more than simply removing it from the neighborhood. The friend was a veteran who had had his knee shot out during WWII, the only relief he was ever able to consistently get for the pain was by applying a linement made from rendered skunk fat. I’m not kidding. Anyone ever heard of this?
April 22, 2012 at 2:44 am
I have read that in the early 1900′s skunk oil (or rendered skunk fat, as you say) was used to strengthen muscle tone, as a contraceptive, a cure for coughs, colds, sore throats, toothaches, broken bones and to treat rheumatism. I guess we can add blown knees to the list!
April 22, 2012 at 3:38 am
Interesting!
April 22, 2012 at 10:34 am
I know just what you were thinking when that owl flew by: ¡HOLY FLYING
SKUNKS!
April 22, 2012 at 2:08 pm
You took the words right out of my mouth, Dan!
April 22, 2012 at 2:49 pm