This litter of six young skunks visited my yard on two successive evenings recently. They appear to be 35 to 40 days old and at this tender age would normally be accompanied by their mother but she was not around. This leads me to believe that she is probably a casualty of a great horned owl or an automobile which are skunk's chief enemies.

They appear to be examples of the common striped skunk (Memphitis mephitis) which are found throughout the United States, but especially in the central portion, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. They breed in mid-February until mid-March with gestation period from 60 to 77 days. After birth, the young skunks nurse the mother for about a month and a half in the den. Fully weaned, the young then follow the mother about, finally breaking from the family about a year after reaching adult size.

These little skunks stayed in pairs, for some reason, and ran frantically about which made it difficult to get a decent photograph. Also, it was almost dark so they didn't show up very well on the view screen. If these young skunks manage to survive the summer without their mother it is unlikely that they will live through the winter, as 90% die the first winter of their lives with the rest living 2 - 3 years in the wild. If you are interested in learning more about skunks, follow this link to an excellent article on the subject.

http://www.projectwildlife.org/living-skunks.htm

Copyright 2008, John Swift