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Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae.They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands.Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or ginger colored, but all have warning coloration.
The earliest fossil finds attributable to Mephitis were found in the Broadwater site in Nebraska, dating back to the early Pleistocene less than 1.8 million years ago. By the late Pleistocene (70,000–14,500 years ago), the striped skunk was widely distributed throughout the southern United States, and it expanded northwards and westwards by the Holocene (10,000–4,500 years ago) following ...
The twelve species of Mephitidae are split into four genera: the monotypic Conepatus, hog-nosed skunks; Mephitis, skunks; Mydaus, stink badgers; and Spilogale, spotted skunks. Mephitidae was traditionally a clade within the Mustelidae family, with the stink badgers combined with other badgers within the Melinae genus, but more recent genetic ...
Hooded skunk: Southwestern United States to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northwest Costa Rica This page was last edited on 5 November 2024, at 02:15 ...
Striped skunk; W. Western spotted skunk; This page was last edited on 23 January 2021, at 17:05 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons ...
The newborn skunks are covered with fine hair that shows the adult color pattern. The eyes open between 30 and 32 days. [12] The kits start solid food at about 42 days and are weaned at about two months. [8] They are full grown and reach adult size at about four months. The males do not help in raising the young.
The diet of the hooded skunk consists mostly of vegetation, especially prickly pear (Opuntia spp.), but it will readily consume insects, small vertebrates, fruit, bird eggs, and human garbage as well. [4] [8] Hooded skunks in Costa Rica utilize their forelimbs to throw bird eggs between their hindlegs, in order to break the eggs open. [8]
Mephitidae is a family of mammals comprising the skunks and stink badgers. They are noted for the great development of their anal scent glands , which they use to deter predators. Skunks were formerly classified as a subfamily of the Mustelidae (the weasel family); however, in the 1990s, genetic evidence caused skunks to be treated as a ...