Reading wildlife tracks and sign has very practical uses. For example, even with the recent cold snaps this winter, the Striped Skunks on my property have managed to stay fairly active. I know from their tracks when they’re around, and just where to keep an eye out while walking my dogs. Here’s how you can, too!
Skunk tracks are distinctive, with several key features that give them away (Photo 1). First, Skunks have five toes with long nails, making their tracks unlike those from any of our other wildlife. Next, the three middle toes of the Skunk’s front feet are partially fused to give them added strength when digging; as a result, a Skunk track will never show splayed toes. Finally, in addition to the toe pads and palm pads seen in Canine and Feline tracks, Skunks have an additional heel pad. It doesn’t always show in the track, but when it does it’s unmistakeable.
Skunk tracks are about the same size as Cat tracks and that’s the main animal they are sometimes confused with. But when you see the two imprints side by side, the differences become obvious (Photo 2).
In addition to distinctive tracks, Skunks also have a distinctive gait (Photo 3). This 1-2-1 track pattern is called a transverse lope, and is a Skunk’s usual way of travelling across open areas where it might be spotted by predators such as owls and hawks. It’s a three-beat gait that gives the animal a rocking-horse appearance as it moves and leaves this distinctive pattern. (When Skunks are under cover and feeling less exposed, they’ll slow down to a walk, with the hind foot landing on or very near the spot where the front foot had been, as seen in Photo 1).
Skunks use a combination of strategies to get through an Island winter. In late summer and fall, they bulk up on fruits, seeds, invertebrates, amphibians, small mammals, carrion, and even the juicy larvae of wasps and hornets. All this feasting puts on a nice layer of fat to help them get through the lean months, which is important: it’s common for Skunks to lose half their body weight or more over the winter.
When days get shorter, Skunks start building their winter dens – often multiple dens per Skunk and multiple Skunks per den. During the coldest weather, Skunks enter a state called ‘torpor’. Similar to (but not as extreme as) hibernation, torpor is a temporary slowing of metabolism and lowering of body temperature to conserve energy.
In harsh winters Skunks may stay in their dens, in and out of torpor, for months at a time. When there are milder spells like we’ve had this year, they are far more active and will emerge to search for food. As we get later into February and March, they’ll also be on the hunt for a mate.
You likely know that Skunks aren’t native to PEI, but may be surprised to learn they were brought here for fur farming. Skunk ranching was mentioned in Island newspapers as early as 1903, with notes that pelts from farms elsewhere in North America were selling at $4 each (about $200 today). By 1914, famed PEI Fox rancher Charles Dalton reported having 35 pairs of Skunks, and Skunks were being advertised for sale in Charlottetown newspapers. Skunk ranching didn’t last long and by 1921 there were no remaining Skunk farms on PEI; the animals had been released and were increasing rapidly in the wild.
Between 1932 and 1956, PEI had Skunk bounties in place, with thousands of animals turned in each year. Ironically (and sadly), during this time there was also a bounty on Great Horned Owls – a predator of Skunks – with more than 1,000 of these majestic birds killed. Despite these efforts, Skunks (and owls!) remain parts of PEI Untamed.
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