HOW SKUNKS DEFEND THEMSELVES 



By R. W. Shufeldt, 

 C. M. Z. S., American Society of Mammalogists, etc. 



A MONG the peculiarities of the otters, sea otter, 

 '* skunks, badgers, and their near allies, constituting 

 the North American Mustelidae, there is no one thing 

 that has created the interest that their odoriferous glands 

 have. This is particularly true of the skunks, and the 

 very mention of this animal's name is immediately asso- 

 ciated with its power of rendering itself excessively ob- 

 noxious or even dangerous to man and to all other ani- 

 mals. We say dangerous, as there have been well-attest- 

 ed cases where complete blindness has followed the in- 

 jection of the fluid into the eyes, and also dangerous to 

 property, for many things have been utterly ruined by 

 having been defiled in the same manner. 

 These remarkable structures or glands are present, in 



SKUNKS HUNTING IN THE DAYTIME 



This unusual picture is from a photograph by Mr. Rollin E. 

 Smith, who presented it to the writer. Skunks are wonderfully 

 agile and elusive in such a situation as here shown, but they are 

 not known to climb trees. 



one form or another, in all the true musteline mammals, 

 and through their use these animals possess a means of 

 defense quite equal to the teeth and claws of any of the 

 other small animals. This is the chief use to which these 

 glands and their acrid secretions are put. The idea still 

 prevails among those poorly informed in such matters 

 that this secretion of the glands comes from the kidneys, 

 to be stored in the bladder. Nothing could be further 

 from the truth. 



Prudism and false modesty are responsible for the 

 masking of much truth in this world, thus fostering 

 many a danger which is the outcome of ignorance. It 

 is no more indelicate to write about the characters, prop- 

 erties and functions of the remarkable fluid of defense 



than to speak about or describe the odor of the skunk 

 cabbage, the namesake of the skunk in the vegetable 

 kingdom. 



If the skunk makes a complete discharge, emptying 

 both glands, he is rendered quite harmless, until such 

 a time as the glands become refilled. According to the 

 majority of authorities, the fluid may be thrown by the 

 animal in two distinct streams, spray-like in character, 

 for a distance of eight feet. Upon a calm day or night 

 the odor may be detected over an area of half a square 

 mile, and if carried by the wind, for a distance of more 

 than a mile. 



How often the animal is compelled to empty the glands 

 the writer is unable to state that is, when the creature 

 is not irritated in any way and there is no occasion for 

 it to defend itself. Instances have been known where 

 they have been kept as pets for a year or more, with not 

 a drop of the fluid escaping, or there being the slight- 

 est evidence of the animal possessing such a disagree- 

 able organ. If a weasel or a skunk is undergoing any 

 pain, or is suddenly frightened or irritated in any way, 

 they will emit the secretion, when the odor becomes very 

 apparent. 



THE NORTHERN SKUNK 



This northern form of the skunk tribe typifies the genus as a 

 whole as they occur in the eastern sections of the country. The 

 animal generally holds its tail as here shown, or else perfectly 

 erect. Skunks are not very rapid runners. 



The writer is more or less familiar with the glands 

 as they occur in the weasels, sables and the mink, and 

 has dissected them out in the latter animal, but he has 

 never examined the odoriferous glands in the Fisher or 

 Pekan, nor has he ever seen a good account of them any- 

 where. 



In the Marten these glands are small, compared with 



