What Eats Skunks? Predators That Ignore the Smell

Why so few animals eat skunks

A striped skunk is slow and only about the size of a house cat, so in theory it should be easy prey. Its protection is the foul musk it sprays at attackers, which burns the eyes, can cause temporary blindness and leaves a smell that lasts for days. The bold black-and-white coat advertises this defense, and most predators learn to respect it after one bad experience.

That works best against mammals, which rely heavily on their noses and hunt at ground level. A sprayed coyote or fox loses its main sense for a while and is in real discomfort. The details of the spray are explained in Why do skunks spray?

Great horned owls: the skunk’s main enemy

The great horned owl is the one predator that regularly hunts skunks. Several features make it the perfect skunk hunter:

• It hunts at night, exactly when skunks are out foraging.
• It attacks from above, dropping silently onto the skunk’s back, away from the aiming end and the eyes’ line of fire.
• It has a poor sense of smell, like most birds, so the stench does not deter it.
• It is powerful, with a crushing grip strong enough to kill prey heavier than itself.

Skunk remains turn up regularly in great horned owl nests and pellets, and the owls themselves often smell of skunk. One often-repeated report describes the remains of 57 striped skunks found at a single great horned owl nest. Skunks are only one part of the owl’s broad diet, as covered in What do owls eat?, but in some areas they are an important one.

Other birds of prey

Golden eagles and bald eagles also take skunks now and then, and other large owls may catch young ones. Eagles hunt mainly by day, when skunks are usually resting in their dens, so encounters are less frequent than with owls. Like owls, though, they are not put off by the smell.

Mammals that sometimes eat skunks

Many mammal predators share the skunk’s range, and most of them avoid it most of the time. They do kill skunks occasionally, especially young, sick or inexperienced ones, or in hard winters when other food is scarce.

Young predators are the most likely to attack a skunk, often learning the hard way. Older, experienced animals generally keep their distance once they see the warning display.

What else kills skunks?

For many skunk populations, predators are not the biggest cause of death.

Road traffic kills enormous numbers of skunks every year across the United States and Canada. Skunks forage slowly along roadsides, see poorly and tend to stand their ground or turn to face danger instead of running.

Disease is another major factor. Striped skunks are one of the main wild carriers of rabies in North America, and outbreaks can sharply reduce local numbers. Canine distemper and other infections also take a toll, along with parasites.

Winter is hard on young skunks. Those born in late spring must build enough fat by autumn to survive months spent mostly asleep in a den, and many do not make it. Overall, a large share of skunks die in their first year, and few live beyond 3 years in the wild.

People also kill skunks, mostly unintentionally through traffic, but in some areas also for fur or when they move into buildings.

Are young skunks more at risk?

Yes. Kits stay close to their mother at first and follow her in single file on nightly foraging trips. Their spray is not yet fully developed, and they are small enough for foxes, owls, bobcats and other predators to tackle. Mothers defend their kits fiercely, but losses in the first summer can be high.

Why the spray still works

Even though some predators ignore it, the skunk’s defense is very successful overall. Adult striped skunks have few natural enemies compared with other small mammals of their size, such as rabbits or opossums, which are hunted by almost every carnivore in North America. In evolutionary terms, being avoided by most predators is a big advantage, even if one silent, nose-blind owl gets around it.