Males only have to inseminate the female and their work is done. So it is to the male skunk's advantage to find as many females as possible. After copulation fertilization the females become extremely aggressive toward males, and will do serious damage to a male in order to protect her investment. The heat cycle in these animals as a result will be spread out over several months. If a female has not been stimulated to ovulate, she may remain in estrous for a longer period of time.
Skunks have many natural predators.
The young and weak also can be removed from the population by disease and however, a result of Natural Selection. Fitness is not measured by the strength of an animal but rather it's ability to produce viable offspring's. Jerry W. Dragoo, Ph.D. Mephitologist, and Research Assistant Professor at the Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New-Mexico. Danny DeVito vs Kareem Abdul Jabbar Fall is upon us. This can be a time of excessive, deadly weight gain.