Skunk

Size

Skunk species vary in size from about 15.6 to 37 inches (40 to 94 cm) and in weight from about 1.1 pounds (0.50 kg) (the spotted skunks) to 18 pounds (8.2 kg) (the hog-nosed skunks). They have a moderately elongated body with relatively short, well-muscled legs, and long front claws for digging.

Food

Skunks are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal material and changing their diet as the seasons change. They eat insects and larvae, earthworms, small rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles, and eggs. They also commonly eat berries, roots, leaves, grasses, fungi, and nuts.

Habitation

Skunks are adaptable. They live in a variety of open, scrub, wooded, agricultural, and developed areas. Hooded and Hognose Skunks are usually found in brushy or rocky land areas. The Western Spotted Skunk is more tolerant of arid, dry conditions than the other varieties. In moister eastern regions, skunks have a feeding territory of under twenty acres while those residing in arid scrublands and desert lands may require an area upwards to 200 acres. They will den near streams or water sources in woodlands, brush, open prairie, and among boulders and rock crevices. Skunks can dig their own burrows, but seem to prefer moving into ones constructed by other animals. In urban areas, they will also nest in houses, walls, basements, culverts, and beneath buildings, wood and rock piles.