A skunk handstand? Funny National Park Service video has a social distancing lesson
This skunk might be the model for social distancing we’ve all been looking for.
The National Park Service posted a hilarious and terrifying video of a western spotted skunk walking on its front legs to scare off predators at Saguaro National Park in Arizona. The video shows the skunk “practicing social distancing before it was cool,” the service said.
Skunks are mostly solitary creatures, the agency said.
“This is understandable,” NPS said. “When they feel threatened, nervous or attacked, skunks release a very strong odor that repels any creature within a few feet. Well, it happens to the best of us. For the sake of other animals, even from the same family, skunks prefer to go through life as free, independent individuals.”
Western spotted skunks are small and slender animals, according to Montana Field Guide.
“(It has) distinct white stripes on the forward part of the body,” the Field Guide said. “The posterior part of the body has two interrupted white bands with one white spot on each side of the rump and two more at the base of the tail.”
When western spotted skunks want to spray their target, they can flip themselves into a handstand and shoot their smelly spray from glands, Discover magazine reported.
So if you see a skunk like that, you might want to run.
