Mississippi’s 109 striped skunk records reach across 39 counties, led by Oktibbeha with 12, and run from the Natchez Trace Parkway and the bottomlands around Delta National Forest to the piney woods near Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge.
An insect hunter with famous insurance
For all its notoriety, a skunk is mostly a bug hunter. Grubs, beetles, crickets, and grasshoppers make up the bulk of its diet, dug out of lawns and field edges with strong front claws that leave neat conical holes. Eggs, small rodents, and fallen fruit round out the menu. The spray is a last resort, accurate for several feet and usually preceded by fair warning, a stamping of the front feet and a raised tail. Ground dens under brush piles, stumps, and outbuildings serve as home base, which is why skunks thrive in Mississippi’s patchwork of pasture, woodland edge, and farm settlement.
Mild winters, no deep sleep
Skunks never truly hibernate. In cold climates they den together and sleep for weeks at a stretch, but Mississippi winters are mild enough to keep them active all year, and reports come in every month. The modest June crest matches the season when four to seven newly weaned kits trail their mother in single file on her nightly rounds, and the October rise comes as skunks feed hard ahead of whatever cold arrives.
Status in Mississippi
NatureServe ranks the striped skunk S5, Secure, in Mississippi, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
