Marie Tosa knows more about the western spotted skunk than almost anyone on Earth. Between 2017 and 2019, as a Ph.D. student at Oregon State University, Tosa trekked all over the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon’s Cascade Range, capturing, collaring and following spotted skunks through dense forests and rolling valleys. In the process, she put 300,000 miles on two research trucks and got sprayed anywhere between 50 and 100 times. But it was worth it, she said: Her research revealed new details of the species’ diet, movements and habitat preferences.
Though the western spotted skunk is less common and more elusive than the more familiar striped skunk, it’s doing better than its cousin back East, where populations have declined by at least 90% since the 1950s. Even today, no one is sure why. “Because nobody was paying attention to it, they really have no idea,” said Tosa, who now works for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Tosa hopes her work will help the West’s spotted skunks avoid their counterparts’ fate. They are, she said, “some of the most amazing critters in the world.”
Spotted skunks weigh between 300 and 800 grams or about 10.5 to 27 ounces — less than many neighborhood squirrels, and much less than striped skunks. Traditional GPS collars would weigh them down too much, so Tosa used VHF radio collars, which emit short beeps every couple of seconds. Researchers must get within 500 meters (546 yards) of a skunk to pick up the signal.
Spotted skunks are some of the most common carnivores in Western forests, living from British Columbia to California and as far east as Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado in both old-growth and younger forests.
Spotted skunks are nocturnal. At night, they hunt for food, find mates and move around. During the day, they sleep in burrows dug by mountain beavers or inside the hollowed-out trunks of giant Douglas firs and hemlock trees.
Researchers, who used detection dogs to sniff out skunk scat, found poop full of yellow jacket carcasses, an apparent spotted skunk delicacy. Tosa hypothesizes that the skunks avoid stings by gorging on the nests at night, while the insects are sleeping. In the winter, when yellow jackets are less available, the skunks eat more small mammals, including flying squirrels, shrew moles and chipmunks.
Spotted skunks are resourceful, even while captured. Tosa observed them pulling ferns, moss and other material into their temporary cages to use as bedding. “They just make themselves at home,” she said.
Tosa and her team wore Tyvek suits to minimize their exposure to skunk spray during the capturing and collaring process, but “the stench kind of permeates everything,” Tosa said. They often got sprayed twice, first while immobilizing the skunk with drugs and again when releasing it from the trap. Tosa quickly became nose blind to the pungent, raw garlicky smell.
To scare off predators, spotted skunks sometimes perform handstands before resorting to spraying. “They make it look completely effortless,” Tosa said.
Illustrations by Alex Boersma/High Country News
This story is part of High Country News’ Conservation Beyond Boundaries project, which is supported by the BAND Foundation.
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This article appeared in the December 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “Get to know the western spotted skunk.”
