I can't believe that I do not have one single skunk photo in my entire animal photo collection. Especially since my home region of southern Arizona is one of the only places in the world where all four species of skunks naturally occur!
Four species? You need a few more than that, I'm afraid - Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Vol 1 (Carnivores) confirms there are four species of Hog-nosed Skunk (Conepatus) alone, plus the Hooded and Striped Skunks (Mephitis) and four species of Spotted Skunk (Spilogale). So ten in total.
(I'm being picky about the word 'species' here - counting the four basic 'types' of skunk - hog-nosed, spotted, striped and hooded - you are of course perfectly correct! )
I can't believe that I do not have one single skunk photo in my entire animal photo collection. Especially since my home region of southern Arizona is one of the only places in the world where all four species of skunks naturally occur!
Four species? You need a few more than that, I'm afraid - Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Vol 1 (Carnivores) confirms there are four species of Hog-nosed Skunk (Conepatus) alone, plus the Hooded and Striped Skunks (Mephitis) and four species of Spotted Skunk (Spilogale). So ten in total.
(I'm being picky about the word 'species' here - counting the four basic 'types' of skunk - hog-nosed, spotted, striped and hooded - you are of course perfectly correct! )
Four species? You need a few more than that, I'm afraid - Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Vol 1 (Carnivores) confirms there are four species of Hog-nosed Skunk (Conepatus) alone, plus the Hooded and Striped Skunks (Mephitis) and four species of Spotted Skunk (Spilogale). So ten in total.
(I'm being picky about the word 'species' here - counting the four basic 'types' of skunk - hog-nosed, spotted, striped and hooded - you are of course perfectly correct! )
I wasn't applying any taxomonic bias to the skunk forms when I said 'type' - just thinking if you're wandering around Arizona and Arizona Docent tells you he's seen a skunk, you would want to know if it was striped, hooded, hog-nosed or spotted. And this of course is the basis for AD's factoid about Arizona having all the skunk 'species'.
I wasn't applying any taxomonic bias to the skunk forms when I said 'type' - just thinking if you're wandering around Arizona and Arizona Docent tells you he's seen a skunk, you would want to know if it was striped, hooded, hog-nosed or spotted. And this of course is the basis for AD's factoid about Arizona having all the skunk 'species'.
What's with the rolleyes, aren't we allowed to be educational?
