Striped skunks appear in 599 Virginia records spread across 86 counties, an unusually even distribution led by Montgomery County in the southwest and reaching from Highland County’s high valleys to the Tidewater. Named-site records cluster on public land, from Jefferson and George Washington National Forests to Shenandoah National Park.
A bold forager with a famous deterrent
The striped skunk is a nocturnal omnivore weighted toward insects: beetle grubs dug out of sod, crickets, and the larvae of ground-nesting wasps, plus mice, eggs, fruit, and carrion. Its digging leaves small conical holes in lawns and field edges. That willingness to forage in the open comes from its defense. A skunk that stamps and raises its tail can spray with accuracy over several meters, and nearly every predator in Virginia has learned to give it room, which is why skunks amble where other mammals their size would run.
Cold dens and a midsummer crest
Skunks do not truly hibernate, but they den through cold spells, sometimes several females sharing one burrow, and Virginia’s record reflects it: December and January counts are the year’s lowest. The crest comes in June and July, when insect prey peaks and the year’s kits, born in May, begin following their mother on nightly rounds. Powhatan State Park and the Blue Ridge Mountains contribute records squarely in that summer window.
Status in Virginia
NatureServe ranks the striped skunk S5, Secure, in Virginia, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
