It has black fur, quite beautiful and shining; and has upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and tail, making an oval that adds greatly to their grace.

Your heart almost fails you when you approach the animal; two have been killed in our court, and several days afterward there was such a dreadful odor throughout our house that we could not endure it.

As a verb, skunk is used to describe the act of overwhelmingly defeating an opponent in a game or competition.

They have moderately elongated bodies with relatively short, well-muscled legs and long front claws for digging.

Skunks are crepuscular and solitary animals when not breeding, though in the colder parts of their range, they may gather in communal dens for warmth.

Although they have excellent senses of smell and hearing, they have poor vision, being unable to see objects more than about 3 m (10 ft) away, making them vulnerable to death by road traffic.

[12] When born, skunk kits are blind and deaf, but already covered by a soft layer of fur.

They eat insects, larvae, earthworms, grubs, rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles, and eggs.

Less often, skunks may be found acting as scavengers, eating bird and rodent carcasses left by cats or other animals.

[14] Skunks are one of the primary predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings.

These glands produce the skunk's spray, which is a mixture of sulfur-containing chemicals such as thiols (traditionally called mercaptans), which have an offensive odor.

[19] The spray can also cause irritation and even temporary blindness, and is sufficiently powerful to be detected by a human nose up to 5.6 km (3.5 miles) downwind.

[20] Their chemical defense is effective, as illustrated by this extract from Charles Darwin's 1839 book The Voyage of the Beagle: We saw also a couple of Zorrillos, or skunks—odious animals, which are far from uncommon.

If a dog is urged to the attack, its courage is instantly checked by a few drops of the fetid oil, which brings on violent sickness and running at the nose.

[21]Skunks carry just enough for five or six successive sprays – about 15 cm3 – and require up to ten days to produce another supply.

It is to a skunk's advantage to warn possible predators off without expending scent: black and white aposematic warning coloration aside, threatened skunks will go through an elaborate routine of hisses, foot-stamping, and tail-high deimatic or threat postures before resorting to spraying.

[23] Most predators of the Americas, such as wolves, foxes, and badgers, seldom attack skunks, presumably out of fear of being sprayed.

[25] In one case, the remains of 57 striped skunks were found in a single great horned owl nest.

[41] In the UK, skunks can be kept as pets,[42] but the Animal Welfare Act 2006 made it illegal to remove their scent glands.