A Variety of Habitat Types Skunk tracks can be found in a plethora of habitat types, such as farmlands, fields, desserts, suburbia, parks, open woodlands, and near the bodies of water.

Skunks are notorious for their omnivorous eating habits. These wild animals feed on foods such as carrions, berries, eggs, small mammals, and even baby birds. There are even some skunks which feed on invertebrates. Only six types of skunks live in the area of North America. Skunks we can find in North America include Striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), Hooded skunk (Mephitis macroura), eastern skunk (Conepatus leuconotus), eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius), and western skunk (Conepatus mesoleucus). Although all of these skunk types can be found in North America, the most common skunk in North America is the striped skunk. This type of skunk is also know worldwide.

Skunk Tracks
Skunks always walk with their feet flat to the ground. This manner of walking reminds of manner of walking of raccoons, skunks, opossums, and bears. Such type of walking is called plantigrade walking. Skunks have 5 toes on their front and back feet.

There is one particularly interesting thing about the tracks of the striped skunks. That one interesting thing about the tracks of the striped skunks is that their tracks look like the tracks of a small bear. A striped skunk’s front feet have long claws which appear as dots in the animal’s footprints. A striped skunk’s rear feet sport an enlarged heel pad which is rectangular in shape and is also long in size in every substrate. A striped skunk’s front heel pad is much smaller than the animal’s back heel pad. All in all, we can say that skunk tracks are highly recognizable.





Skunk Gait
The most common type of skunk, the striped skunk can walk and travel in a variety of gaits. Striped skunks sometimes travel across open areas in a lope. However, when striped skunks are foraging for food or looking for a shelter, they tend to move more slowly and leave behind an overlap gait.

Other Signs of Skunk Infestation
Besides you can conclude that skunks are hanging around near your property based on their footprints, there are also other ways how you can acknowledge a skunk infestation.

Skunks are notorious for digging holes and if you find massive holes in your garden, you can be sure that they were dug by skunks.

Read the How to get rid of skunks page for helpful information and to learn more about How to identify skunk tracks

How to identify skunk tracks