Why Do Skunks Smell?

After watching an old episode of the Warner Bros’ cartoon Pepe Le Pew (for those who have never seen it, this Looney Tunes classic centres around a French skunk who pursues the attentions of a black and white cat called Penelope Pussycat!), my little boy asked “Dad, why do skunks stink?”. Interesting question I thought. So what’s the answer? Why do skunks have that very funky smell?

Well, the answer lies in the skunk’s anal scent glands, which it uses to defend itself against predators. A skunk has two internal glands – around the same size as walnuts – one on each side of its anus. The glands produce a foul-smelling spray which contains a mixture of sulphur-based chemicals (or for our American readers, sulfur) that can be ejected up to 10 feet (3 metres). The odour has been described as a combination of rotten eggs, burnt rubber and garlic!

While the spray itself is relatively harmless (though reportedly it can cause temporary blindness if it hits the eyes), its stench is so bad it usually deters the skunk’s main predators such as bears, wolves, badgers and foxes. After all, who would want to eat something that smells that bad? One exception however, is the great horned owl which, like many birds, has a very poor sense of smell, and is probably the skunk’s main animal threat.

Although the skunk possesses this effective built-in defense mechanism, it will only use it when it feels extremely threatened since the glands only hold enough of the chemical for 5 or 6 strikes, and it can take up to 10 days to produce a new batch.

So there we go – a bite-size answer to the question why do skunks smell.

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