Do skunks fight each other?

Skunks do not normally have problems with other skunks except in the mating season or in the fall months when they are looking to get a warm space in the den. The skunks may be threatened by other animals outside who are their predators, including bears. Skunks will be very hesitant to spray other skunks, but sometimes there are fights between females and males during the mating season and they will last one or two months. When a female skunk has gone out of heat and a male skunk tries to mate, the female may spray it trying to keep it away. When a skunk has been threatened by predators and other skunks, they can use other methods to threaten the predator like hissing, stomping of the feet, rising of the tail and using other postures before resorting to spraying. The reason for this is that the skunks will have the chemical to use for only six uses, and it needs at least 10 days in order to produce more.

In autumn, the skunks will be fighting one another for space in the den where they will stay in the winter months. When the fights follow, then they are resolved using claws and teeth. In most cases, the skunks can tolerate one another. Sometimes, the male skunk may den with a number of females in the winter months, and they may allow some other creatures like groundhogs or rabbits to share one den with them.

Most of the time skunks only choose to spray if they fear for their life. There are skunks that can be scared more easily compared to others. When it is a skunk to skunk encounter, the opponents will use different series of displays and threatening motions toward one another. There can be some vocalization and screeching and one of them may choose to retreat. There are cases when the two may choose to fight. In this case, there is rolling and biting with more vocalization. This will end when the loser backs up.

When it is an adult that meets with juveniles, since male skunks tend to kill young skunks, the younger one will feel as if their lives are at stake and they may spray when they meet an adult skunk. There is also interspecies spraying which may take place in the breeding period. A female can mate with different males during the breeding period, but when she has finished, she can spray the male to show it that it does not want its advances.

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