[7] The Eastern spotted skunk seems to prefer forest edges and upland prairie grasslands, especially where rock outcrops and shrub clumps are present.

In western counties, it relies heavily on riparian corridors where woody shrubs and woodland edges are present.

[citation needed] The eastern spotted skunk has a small weasel-like body with fine, dense black fur that has 4 to 6 broken, white stripes.

Although these skunks do not hibernate, they do tend to greatly reduce their activity when enduring intensely warm summers or very cold winters.

[8] Eastern spotted skunks usually breed in March or April and give birth in late May or early June.

The exact reason behind the decrease in numbers is not known, which is puzzling considering the species was very quick to adapt to human settlement, and was commonly trapped up until the second half of the 20th century.

Before then, they were frequently seen on farmlands, and were known to dig burrows under the sides of barns and prey on mice that were attracted to stored grains.

[10] Pesticide use, modernization of farming techniques, over-trapping and consolidation of barns and other man-made structures are all believed to have had a negative effect on eastern spotted skunk populations; as a result, it has become possibly eradicated from several midwestern states, and on the whole is declining in that region.

[10] According to a population survey done in Alabama, the Carolinas, and Virginia, the Appalachian spotted skunk (S. p. putorius), the nominate subspecies, underwent a decline of about 3% per year between 2014 and 2020, with about a 50% mortality rate; predation from owls constituted the main reason for mortality throughout most of the range, but in North Carolina, a canine distemper outbreak killed half the marked (and a few unmarked) individuals over a few days.