Musk can make a predator sick or, if the skunk has been able to direct the substance into the animal's eyes, temporarily blind. A skunk can shoot musk about twelve feet, but will use it as only a last resort, preferring, instead, to bluff an enemy. If threatened, a skunk drums its forefeet on the ground, snarls, arches its back and raises its tail. It can spray in any direction by twisting its rump toward the target. And, contrary to popular opinion, it can discharge when hoisted by the tail.
Striped skunks are omnivorous.
What they eat depends on where they live and what's available. Skunks dig out bumblebee nests and scratch at the entrances of beehives, catching and eating any honeybees that fly out. Chiefly nocturnal, they hunt from dusk until dawn. They den in ground burrows, beneath buildings, stumps, wood and rock piles and overhanging creek banks. Often a skunk will use an abandoned woodchuck burrow, although if none is available it will dig its own.