Skunk Scat at Bell Top

At Bell Top School with Mrs. O'Connell and her 3rd graders we discovered some scat on a culvert pipe cover. After doing some research using two books in particular (Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species by Mark Elbroch and Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign by Paul Rezendes) my best guess is that it was from a skunk.

The photos in both books did not look exactly like the scat we found, pictured here. Nor did they look like the pictures of opossum scat. They were too small to be raccoon scat. In reading about the scat I found that skunk scat can be quite variable.


What has me thinking that the scat is likely skunk is that near by there are several places where there are holes dug in the ground by skunks. Skunks dig into the soil to feed on beetle grubs and other invertebrates that live there including yellow jackets. A good friend of mine, Rick Glatz, told me of a time he was doing a nature walk with students and they observed a skunk digging up a yellow jacket nest. The yellow jackets were swarming all around the skunk, yet the skunk continued to devour the nest oblivious to the insects trying to sting it.. Here is a picture of one of these holes from the Bell Top school yard where it was likely eating beetle grubs.

Here’s a song I learned years ago about a skunk.

The Skunk Song (sung to the tune of “Dixie”)

I stuck my head in a little skunk’s hole
The little skunk said “Oh bless my soul”
Take it out
Take it out
Take it out
Remove it!

Well I didn’t take it out and that little skunk said
If you don’t take it out you’ll wish you had
Take it out
Take it out
Take it out – psssssssssst
I removed it.

In the song the skunk give three warnings – “Take it out, take it out, take it out”. In reading old accounts of skunks like those by Ernest Thompson Seton they tell of skunks giving three warnings when threatened by danger; the first, stomping their front feet on the ground; the second, making a hissing noise and showing their teeth; and finally, raising their tail. All of these are warning signs to ward off a predator. If successful, the predator leaves the skunk alone and the skunk doesn’t have to use any spray, thus conserving spray for when it really is needed.

I’ve always wondered if this was really true. I had a chance to check it out one day when I encountered a skunk at the Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne, NY. It was a late winter day with mild weather and snow still on the ground. At that time of year skunks are starting to become more active moving about searching for food and getting ready for the mating season.

I was walking one of the Center’s trails when I saw a skunk near a corn crib wildlife feeding area. I was about 50 feet from it, a safe distance if the skunk were to spray. I decided to see if the skunk would give the three warnings. I made a snow ball and carefully tossed it toward the skunk. I missed by about 15 feet. The skunk gave no reaction and continued to slowly waddle along. To improve my accuracy I decided I had to get a little closer, made another snowball and tossed it. Again I missed (I wasn’t trying to hit the skunk, just trying to land the snowball near it), but by only 7 or 8 feet. The skunk just waddled along. So I got even close, less than 20 feet from the skunk, within spray range if it decided to let loose.

I tossed another snowball and almost hit the skunk on the head. It didn’t stomp the ground with it front feet. It didn’t hiss or bare its teeth. It stopped waddling and immediately raised its distinctively marked black and white tail. I thought, “Ooops!” and stood still. The skunk didn’t spray. After a few moments it began to slowly waddle along and then slowly lowered its tail. I slowly backed away.

I didn’t see any feet stomping, hissing or baring of teeth. I definitely saw the tail rise. The skunk had given me a warning. It worked! I left the skunk alone and it continued on with its business not having had to use any spray.

In hind sight it would have been interesting to have been sprayed. Then I could relate the experience of how the spray works – by causing eyes to water, irritation of the nose (I have had that experience when a skunk sprayed in the wood shed attached to our old farmhouse – the smell seeping into the house was so strong that it awoke me from my sleep with a burning sensation in my nose and watering eyes) and even vomiting.

One last note – notice the seeds in the scat. The large ones are cherry pits. The skunk, by feeding on cherry and other fruit, is helping to disperse those seeds. The fleshy part of the fruit is digested while the seed continues through the skunk’s digestive system. When the skunk goes to the bathroom they are planting trees and bushes far from the parent plant. Alas where this skunk went to the bathroom is a bad place for the seeds to have ended up in that they will not be able to grow on the metal plate.