Skunks | What Do Skunks Eat?
Before discussing what skunks eat and their diet! You should first know about the skunks and their attitudes.
What are Skunks?
Skunk are small-sized, hog_nosed omnivore cute animals that usually live in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and South America. They also known as polecats, black and white, or sometimes cream color animals, are famous for their ability to secrete a strong liquid spray when threatened.
The unpleasant liquid spray comes from anal glands, which is difficult to ignore for a human. Their noxious odor may sometimes cause human death. They can hit prey from a distance of 3.7 meters. As mammals, they are members of the Mephitidae family.
Benefit the farmers and landowners in their agricultural system, protecting the fields from destruction.
Now we will discuss the diet of skunks according to the climate. They are divided into four species: striped, Hooded, Hog-nosed, and spotted. These species have a slight difference in color, design, and shape.
Scientific Classifications:
Common Name | Striped skunk |
Species & Genus | M. mephitis, Mephitis |
Family | Mephitidae |
Group Name | Surfeit |
Kingdom | Animalia |
Diet | grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, caterpillars, other insect larvae and bees, etc. |
Weight | 7-ounce to 14 Pound |
Average Life | 2.5 years to 3 years |
In Which Country Does Skunk Found?
According to their species, they are found in different areas. The countries where they live are Southern Canada, North and South America, Indonesia, and Mexico.
Striped Skunks inhabit southern Canada and northern Mexico and live in New Hampshire and all the States of America except Alaska and Hawaii. Hooded species usually live in the American Southwest and Central America. They are pretty different in fur and size of the tail than Strapped skunks.
Eastern Spotted Skunks are explicitly found in North America, Mexico, and Canada. The hog-nosed skunk is a species found in Central and North America. This species of skunk is smaller in size than American Hog_nosed skunks, which is the largest species of skunk.
What Does Skunk Like To Eat?
The skunks, being Omnivores like to eat plants, animals, insects, and sometimes garbage that people leave. They are attracted to food because of their powerful sense of smell. Skunks are usually fond of vegetables and eat unique fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, apples, grapes, bananas, berries, etc.
They also like to eat nuts, pecans, walnuts, eggs, beans, corn, greenery, rice, bread, pasta, etc. All these things provide protein for their prosperity.
What Do Skunks Eat In The Wild?
They are solitary mammals that come out during the day at a particular time to eat food. They usually eat grubs, earthworms, snakes, grass, fungi, and larvae in the wild. Skunks change their food with the change of season.
They also eat roots, leaves, frogs, insects, nuts, and moles.
What Do they Eat In The Summer?
Skunks eat meat during the summer and spring seasons because they can search for food.
Skunks are not fast-moving, so they eat anything that they find. They eat beetle larvae, small rodents, snakes, moles, birds’ eggs, worms, grasshoppers, ants, bees, crickets, scatter pillars, grubs, etc.
Hibernate
Usually, they do not hibernate, but they block their dens with grass to keep the cold out when the temperature drops. Usually, skunks are solitary animals and don’t bear the entrance of other skunks in their dens.
But in extreme cold, they den together for warming. When the temperature exceeds 30 degrees, they step out for the food they need.
What do they eat in the Winter?
They do not store food for winter because they are not hibernating. So they have to find food throughout the year. In winter, the insects and meat of small animals do not become available, so the skunk has to eat greenery such as leaves, grass, plants, etc.
For more details and topics visit The Trends Time.