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 Eastern Spotted Skunk (Spilogale putorius)

Eastern Spotted Skunk | Spilogale putorius photo
Eastern Spotted Skunk
Photograph by Nora Arias Loftis. Some rights reserved.  (view image details)




Eastern Spotted Skunk | Spilogale putorius photo
This Spotted Skunk has just been released after being trapped.
Photograph by Andrea Arbogast. Some rights reserved.  (view image details)





EASTERN SPOTTED SKUNK FACTS
Description
The Eastern Spotted Skunk has short legs with small tapered head, and short, rounded nose. It has a white spot on the forehead and one in front of each ear. There are six white stripes on the front part of the body. The back part of the body has two broken white bands, also one spot on each side of the rump and two at the base of the tail. Skunks can spray a foul-smelling fluid from two glands near the base of its tail. This liquid is oily and difficult to remove and is very painful if sprayed in the eyes.

Other Names
Civet-cat, Little Spotted Skunk, Little Pole-cat, Four-striped Cat

Size
Head and body length: 20-cm - 34cm. Tail length: 10cm - 22cm. Males are slightly larger than females.

Environment
wooded areas, prairies, rocky habitats. It lives in a hole it digs for itself, or in abandoned burrows dug by other animals.

Food
Insects, small mammals such as mice, cottontails. In summer they eat insects, fruits, birds, eggs. In fall they eat mostly insects

Breeding
Five or six kittens are born after a gestation period of 50-65 days. The mother has three pairs of teats for feeding young. At birth they are very immature and blind, deaf.

Range
from Minnesota in the north to Tamaulipas, Mexico in the south, and west to eastern Wyoming and Colorado. Found through midwestern states, in the Appalachian mountains as far north as Pennsylvania, throughout Florida, and to eastern Texas.

Classification
Class:Mammalia
Order:Carnivora
Family:Mephitidae
Genus:Spilogale
Species:putorius
Common Name:Eastern Spotted Skunk


Relatives in same Genus
  Western Spotted Skunk (S. gracilis)







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