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Spotted skunk - SPILOGALE PUTORIUS
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Skunk": "Skunk" comes from the native American Massachuset word "squnck."
Location: From southern Canada to Central America.
Habitat: Terrestrial. Woodland and grassland, but also in stony and desert terrain.
Description: The spotted skunk weighs much less than the striped skunk. The coat is identifiable by a striking pattern of irregular white stripes all over the body. The tail is long and bushy, but less so than in the striped skunk. The head and body are about 15 inches long, and the tail is about eight inches. They weigh about two pounds.
Behavior: This nocturnal, solitary species is definitely more active than the striped skunk, and has no trouble climbing up and down trees and bushes. It often builds a sort of shelter or refuge in hollows in trees, or it may dig out a burrow in the ground or take over the burrow of another species. The spotted skunk threatens aggressors by raising the hind part of its body, which intimidates most enemies. If the enemy persists, it receives, in the eyes, a malodorous secretion which is squirted from the anal glands; this secretion can be sprayed accurately up to a distance of 20 feet. It has an omnivorous diet.
Reproduction: After perhaps about four months of gestation, the female gives birth to up to six young. She may have two litters per year. The offspring are weaned at about two months and reach adult size by about four months.
Go to the Carnivore Page to learn more about all the meat-eating animals.
Go to the Striped Skunk for
the only other Skunk listed in America Zoo.
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