Recently, we drove past an area that, oddly, smelled of skunk in the dead of winter. This got me to thinking how rare this smell is in wintertime. So, where do the skunks go? Do they hibernate?
You will notice the title of this thread is in Latin… “hiber-ante”!
I’ve seen two of them in the last few weeks - as roadkill, and right in town where one rarely sees any roadkill.
Skunks are starting their breeding season, in February. They don’t hibernate, exactly, but hole up in burrows, inactive, coming out rarely to feed (they eat almost anything, maybe they wait for a thaw in the snow).
I guess the same is true of other small animals (rabbit, racoon, opposum) in winter?
My research indicates…
Groundhogs do hibernate *1
Possums don’t *2
Raccoons don’t *3
- according to the book my daughter has been wanting me to read her every night for the past three weeks
- judging by the two roadkill possums near my work today. The road to work is like an opossum slalom.
- judging by the pack of raccoons that jumped out of the parking lot trash can at Macdonalds right before I threw something in it last week.
I guess, technically, to hibernate means they actually lower their metabolism…I understand. The others must just hunker down and wait it out…mimicking humans.
From Wiki: “Skunks are not true hibernators in the winter, but do den up for extended periods of time. However, they remain generally inactive and feed rarely, going through a dormant stage. They often overwinter in a huddle of multiple (as many as twelve) females. Males often den alone. The same winter den is often repeatedly used.”
That must be adorable!