skunky differences

[tenaya]

I've added a few more photos to the photobucket site. All the skunk tails seem to have variations, but some are more pronounced than others. This little guy in the photo below is the first time I've seen where the strip from the head to the tail does anything fancy. And speaking of fancy, check out the photos labeled forked as this guy has an exceptional display of the long white hair, capped off by a forked fringe at the top. Currently, there are two siblings who have this. And if you browse over the old photos, you can see a fuzzy tails, skinny tails, black tails, tails with a white bottle brush imbeded in a black tail.







One of the skunks last night chased Brindle at least 30 feet before they disappeared into the night. I think skunks must find that really funny. I mean, what's he going to do if he catches him? Nothing. There's no point in chasing the cat. You had to admire his ambition; them little legs hustling along after one of the most atheletic cats I've ever seen. Brindle can leap at least ten feet from a standstill. Being chased by a skunk must be terribly embarassing to Brindle.

No coons last night. Cutiepie with 6, and skittish momma with 2 were by Monday night, though.

photos

Comments

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

Bless them! They're so cute.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

They are. And funny, too.

There's a yard full of skunks and raccoons tonight. In fact, the little coons were fingering the screen door. I put my hand on the screen and half the babies wanted to come sniff it and bounced against it. I finally remembered where I had more peanuts and handed them out since they were so cute!

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

Caption for picture: "Aw wait, let me comb my hai...er...tail!"

I was checking out the front CLAWS - ye gawds! And let's hope Brindle isn't tempted, against his better judgment, to turn around and retaliate. I wonder if the coons (and other animals, come to that) are put off by the skunk spray? I wonder if it smells bad to them? I guess so....!

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Oh no, he wouldn't. Before I sealed up the vent under the house, the skunks had gotten in there and like to use it as a den. Brindle followed them in and got sprayed when he was the new guy in town. We used that peroxide/baking soda/soap combo and it worked great. The the bottomline is that Brindle knows they can be terribly smelly and wants nothing to do with them. He'd be happy if they'd just all go away.

The claws are impressive, aren't they? They like to dig for bugs and are quite good at it.

When I see the coons rubbing shoulders with the skunks and pulling their tails, I wonder what would happen if a coon got sprayed? I guess they'd just be smelly, but I wonder if Momma coon would try to groom the smell off her young? I think the smell is designed to make everyone leave the skunks alone. Their reputation precedes them and they act like they've no worries.

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

Maybe the coons & the skunks are just two species who peacefully coexist and so sort of "ignore" each other - or who knows, maybe even help each other sometimes? If they're not exactly competing for food or territory (at least, if *they* don't look at it that way) maybe they just think of each other as neighbors ;-) I guess the skunks would spray if they felt threatened by the coons, but maybe they don't often feel threatened by them.

Remember when you and I were young and people used to be able to keep skunks as pets? You could buy them in the pet store? I don't know exactly when they went the way of ferrets, legally.