368 BuLLiJTiN 83 



SKUNKS 



Keeping strictly within the Hmits of our subject, we would not 

 deal with any mammals, for we have none which are poisonous in 

 the proper sense of the term, as used elsewhere in this publication. 

 But inquiries having come regarding the so-called "hydrophobia 

 skunk," it should be treated in this connection. 



Probably none of the many animals suspected of being dan- 

 gerous in Arizona has created so wide a diversity of opinion as has 

 this one. In one sense perhaps, a myth, this animal is nevertheless 

 much feared in a considerable portion of the Southwest; yet the 

 "tenderfoot" is moved to much mirth at the suggestion that the 

 skunk will boldly bite a person sleeping out unprotected. The 

 writer has laughed at many detailed stories of the hydrophobia 

 skunk, and notwithstanding the circumstantial tales has often slept 

 unprotected on the ground. 



It is most unwise, however, to dismiss such a universally feared 

 animal without investigating carefully all available data on the 

 matter. Though we shall find that there is no basis for the wide- 

 spread fear of some animals discussed herein, we desire to stand on 

 facts in any case. I should^ be the last to deny that a skunk bite 

 might produce hydrophobia, for we know that a wide variety of 

 animals are subject to the disease and can pass it on through the 

 saliva, probably all of the cat and dog tribe, as well as others in this 

 category. The feature of this instance is that there is popularly 

 supposed to be a particular species or kind of skunk whose bite 

 akvavs gives hydrophobia. If this be true, then the skunk assuredly 

 differs from any of the other animals which are subject to rabies; 

 •for in other cases, as the dog, an individual animal gets the infec- 

 tion from some other infected animal (never spontaneously from 

 heat or thirst), suffers from the disease, and while so suft'ering is 

 capable of conveying the infection to other animals. Rabies (hydro- 

 phobia) is a germ disease and can no more be contracted spon- 

 taneously than can typhoid fever, or tuberculosis. It is the idea 

 carried with the term "the hydrophobic skunk," rather than the 

 idea that some skunks might be suffering from the disease and 

 therefore dangerous that throws the proposition into disrepute with 

 so many people; and in addition to that, perhaps, the very details 

 as usually given, instead of carrying conviction, seem merely to be 

 the embellishments of the joker trying to "stufT" the newcomer. 



When we look for information on skunks in systematic works. 



