# Skunks don't stink **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2001, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589 "2001-11-10T05:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![somepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@somepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepig)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/1 "2001-11-10T05:34:39Z")
I’ll keep it short – I can’t smell skunk. In my entire life I have never had the privilege of smelling that pungent aroma. I had another opportunity tonight, but alas, even several deep breaths didn’t work. My question for you all is obvious: Why can’t I smell skunk odor? My nose seems to work with every other stench. The only possible related feature I can think of is that I seem to be a little hypersensitive to bitter tastes. But that’s it. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/2 "2001-11-10T05:37:00Z")
Do you drink a lot of tomato juice? It is used to get rid of the smell. ---
**Author:** ![somepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@somepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepig)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/3 "2001-11-10T05:52:54Z")
Nope, I’ve never touched the stuff. Good thought, though… ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/4 "2001-11-10T14:37:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by somepig \* > \*\*I’ll keep it short – I can’t smell skunk. In my entire life I have never had the privilege of smelling that pungent aroma. I had another opportunity tonight, but alas, even several deep breaths didn’t work. My question for you all is obvious: Why can’t I smell skunk odor? My nose seems to work with every other stench. The only possible related feature I can think of is that I seem to be a little hypersensitive to bitter tastes. But that’s it. Any ideas? \*\* There is a rare and harmless condition, a sort of olfactory color-blindness, that prevents some people from smelling skunk. Or rather, they can smell skunk, just not in the same way that other people do. To me, the skunk odor is a not unpleasant sharp lemony smell. For years I thought I could not smell skunk at all because I didn’t smell anything bad while everyone else was gagging, but after reading an article on this subject in _National Wildlife_ I realized I was just special. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/5 "2001-11-10T15:20:38Z")
I have the same problem, with everything. I can detect an odor, but cannot distinguish it. Everything, good or bad, smells the same to me. I can taste the air, but it is bad form to walk around the mall flicking out the tongue like a snake. Plus I’m just begging for a sexual harassment suit. It’s a blessing and a curse. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/6 "2001-11-10T21:44:20Z")
They don’t have that scent _continuously,_ do they? I remember the old Warner Brothers cartoons with the amorous French skunk Pepe le Pew. To hear the way the story is told by the cartoons’ writers, one would think that skunks _always_ smell like that. I have rarely seen a skunk in my life–once was on a winding section of Palos Verdes Drive East, near 25th Street in San Pedro, when I waited for a skunk to amble off the roadway. _I_ think they only smell bad (worse than other wild animals) when they actively _eject_ their scent. (In November 1966, a skunk got under the band building at Redondo High in Redondo Beach, CA; it died. We had an exchange student from India that year, and the band teacher followed his suggestion to burn incense sticks in the band room to dispel the smell of the _dead_ skunk.) ---
**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/7 "2001-11-10T23:05:04Z")
**Somepig,** to never have the pleasure of experiencing the odoriferous cadenza that a skunk can unleash is truly a shame. I believe that a maximum dose is beyond a mere mortal’s capability to actually smell. You do not smell, you are immursed! ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/8 "2001-11-11T02:07:36Z")
I can distinguish a skunk smell very easily. Thing is, it doesn’t _smell bad_ to me. Yes, any smell that is overpowering is bad because it chokes you, but in moderate doses I almost like the way it smells. I’m guessing it’s like taste, some people think saccarin tastes bitter, while it just tastes sweet to others? ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/9 "2001-11-11T04:53:11Z")
somepig How close have you been to one that has sprayed??? Did you know the cloud is yellow? Now thats close. I kinda like the smell if it is at a considerable distance. Up close you’ll have a different understanding of the word pungent. ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/10 "2001-11-11T05:02:25Z")
I dunno about somepig, but I was sprayed in the face by a skunk at a range of 4 feet. Couldn’t really smell anything out of the ordinary, but I can tell you this… I know what skunk piss tastes like (not good) and it will burn the hell outta your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/11 "2001-11-11T05:04:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > Thing is, it doesn’t _smell bad_ to me. but in moderate doses I almost like the way it smells. I’m guessing it’s like taste, some people think saccarin tastes bitter, while it just tastes sweet to others? \*\* driving to work in vallejo I’d see the poor things along side the road pancaked. diluted,they didn’t smell bad at all to me either,smelled good actually. but I imagine if I got sprayed it would be a different story entirely… ---
**Author:** ![RoboDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@RoboDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoboDude)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/12 "2001-11-11T06:11:14Z")
> [@](#): > > They don’t have that scent continuously, do they? IIRC, no they don’t. The chemical responsible for the scent is released on;y for self-defense. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/13 "2001-11-11T19:03:20Z")
**somepig** I would have swapped residences with you back in August. My apartment was sprayed by a wayward skunk and my place stunk beyond belief for two days. You would have enjoyed it. I fled and bought about four bottles of skunk odor remover in an attempt to combat the smell. Unfortunately, even if you couldn’t detect the smell yourself, you still would have been a social pariah because the odor attached itself to my body for a couple of days before it wore off. I wasn’t popular with my friends. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/14 "2001-11-11T21:09:53Z")
I normally find the smell somewhat pleasant when it is merely a spray in the vicinity. However, I once accidentally ran a skunk over during fall, with my heater going, and wow I can say that that experience was not pleasant. My eyes were watering something terrible it smelled so… strong. But still, even at that, it wasn’t so bad of a smell as merely… strong. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skunks-dont-stink/92589/15 "2001-11-11T21:28:32Z")
Know how sometimes, when you’ve been around a smell for a while, you don’t notice it? Do people avoid you in closed spaces? (I _am_ kidding you, FTR)