Striped skunks turn up in 290 Minnesota records spread across 64 counties, from St. Louis County in the Arrowhead through Anoka, Dakota, and Isanti around the metro. Places like the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and Carlos Avery State Wildlife Management Area hold repeated sightings, but this generalist is at home nearly anywhere the state offers open ground and cover.
An omnivore with a famous defense
A skunk digs grubs and insects out of sod with long front claws, adds mice, eggs, carrion, and berries as they come available, and pays little mind to most predators while doing it. The reason is the spray, an oily musk fired accurately from beneath the tail and advertised in advance by a raised tail and stamped front feet, fair warning for anything larger to back off.
A winter sleeper, not a hibernator
Striped skunks do not truly hibernate, but a Minnesota winter slows them hard. They den in burrows or under buildings, sometimes several females sharing one den, living on stored fat and emerging during thaws. Counts sag from November through January, climb again in March and April as skunks leave their dens and breeding begins, and peak in September when the year’s young forage heavily to build fat.
Status in Minnesota
NatureServe lists the striped skunk SNR, Unranked, in Minnesota and G5, Secure, globally. The species is native to the state, and USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
