That's in part because the spotted skunk is nocturnal, with a habitat reaching from British Columbia to New Mexico and from Colorado west to California. And, yeah, they stink, with even more ...

According to a post by the Department of Fisheries & Wildlife at Michigan State University, researchers are studying the behavior, activity patterns and habitat use of striped skunks across the state.

That basically means the skunks are rapidly declining--habitat loss, disease, pesticides and rodenticide use, and declining forest habitat have led to numbers plummeting over the past 80 years.

She also found that western spotted skunks may be vulnerable to extreme winters, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change, and the importance of old growth forests for their habitat.

And they’re really, really adorable.” The western spotted skunk prefers more undisturbed habitat, such as mountainous areas, and is nocturnal, so it is rarely seen. Yet it lives in areas from ...

The skunk species, which faces major threats from human-caused land-use change, prefers undisturbed habitat like mountains and lives in a wide range from New Mexico to British Columbia.