Maine’s 290 striped skunk records come mostly from the settled, lowland half of the state. Hancock, Penobscot, and Cumberland counties lead the count, and the named places, Laudholm Farms, Lamoine State Park, and Scarborough Marsh among them, are exactly the kind of field-and-thicket country a skunk prefers.
An insect hunter with a famous deterrent
Beneath the warning colors, a skunk is a methodical ground forager, digging up beetle grubs, yellowjacket nests, and cutworms, and adding mice, eggs, and fallen fruit as the season offers. Its spray is a last resort. A skunk that feels pressed will stamp its front feet and raise its tail before ever turning to aim, giving fair warning to anything that backs off. That defense lets it forage in the open at night with little fear of predators, and small conical diggings in a lawn are often its signature.
A quiet season, not a departure
Skunks do not truly hibernate, but they hole up through Maine’s cold months, often several to a den, living off stored fat and emerging on mild nights. Reports crest from June through October, when newly independent young are wandering and adults feed heavily ahead of winter.
Status in Maine
NatureServe ranks the striped skunk S5, Secure, in Maine, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
