{"id":2042,"date":"2012-02-16T10:43:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T15:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/?p=2042"},"modified":"2012-03-01T15:13:22","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T20:13:22","slug":"love-is-in-the-air-or-it-is-skunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/2012\/02\/love-is-in-the-air-or-it-is-skunk\/","title":{"rendered":"Love is in the Air, or it is Skunk?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2046\" title=\"two-skunks\" src=\"http:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/two-skunks1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"two skunks\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/>This morning as I was eating breakfast, my dad looked out the window and saw a skunk walking down our driveway!\u00a0 It was interesting to see it walking slowly down our gravel driveway and down towards the barnyard.\u00a0 Later when I went outside, I looked for tracks in the snow but the snow had hardened over night and the skunk did not leave tracks.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Skunks do not hibernate but generally remain inactive in a den, sometimes with other skunks during the winter months.\u00a0 As the weather warms up, they venture out of their dens to find food or in late winter, love.\u00a0 Mating occurs in the late winter months of February and March and young are born from mid-spring until mid-summer, in litters of 4-6.<\/p>\n<p>Skunks are a member of the weasel family.\u00a0 The two most common skunks in theU.S.are the striped skunk and the spotted skunk.\u00a0 The striped skunk, which is common aroundWestern New York, is characterized by a black body with a narrow white stripe on the forehead and wider stripes that extend from the neck along each side of the back.\u00a0 The amount of black or white can vary.\u00a0 The skunk in my driveway this morning seemed to have more white than I normally picture on a skunk.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2047\" title=\"skunk-tracks\" src=\"http:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/skunk-tracks1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"skunk tracks\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/> Skunks have sharp claws on their front feet that are used for digging insects and worms.\u00a0 Their footprint and moving pattern distinguishes them from other similar-sized animals.\u00a0 Their diet consists mainly of insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, and various insect larvae.\u00a0 They can dig and root in the soil looking for insect larvae.\u00a0 Sod lawn damage by skunks often has the sod \u201crolled back\u201d in a similar fashion as done by raccoons.\u00a0 They will also sometimes eat poultry, eggs, garden vegetables, and fruit.\u00a0 They will also feed on mice, rats, ground squirrels, shrews, moles, and other small animals.<\/p>\n<p>As most dog owners know, skunks are known for their discharge of an obnoxious odor when provoked.\u00a0 This is released primarily in self-defense.\u00a0 A skunk can release a spray of oily liquid as far as 10-15 feet and spray up to six times in succession.\u00a0 The fluid is painful if it gets in a person\u2019s or pet\u2019s eyes and may cause temporary blindness for about 15 minutes.\u00a0 Skunks will usually stamp their feet, hiss or growl and raise their tail as a warning of an oncoming discharge.\u00a0 After a full discharge, it takes up to 10 days to replenish the supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So as spring creeps closer, remember our smelly friend is beginning to venture out and look for his or her future mate.\u00a0 A skunk generally sprays only as a last resort and prefers to retreat from danger.\u00a0 However, we do not want to test its patience!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This morning as I was eating breakfast, my dad looked out the window and saw a skunk walking down our driveway!\u00a0 It was interesting to see it walking slowly down our gravel driveway and down towards the barnyard.\u00a0 Later when I went outside, I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[167,168,7],"class_list":["post-2042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animals","tag-animals-2","tag-skunk","tag-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2042"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2059,"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042\/revisions\/2059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}