Permanent water is usually close by. Skunks can dig their own dens, but prefer to use those excavated by badgers, woodchucks, or other animals. Den sites also include stumps, caves, rock piles, old buildings, junk piles, sheds, wood piles, and dry drainage tiles or storm sewers. Habits Striped skunks are active at night and occasionally during the daylight hours of early morning or late evening. While skunks aren't likely to move long distances, some have traveled as far as 6 miles away from where they were captured.
Skunks are slow moving and docile.
Their senses of sight, hearing, and smell are poor compared to many predators. When cornered or pursued closely, they usually face the intruder, arch their backs, raise their tails, and stamp the ground with their front feet. If a skunk's warning is ignored, it turns around with its tail raised and facing the threat so that it's in a good position for discharging its musk. Most predators avoid skunks, but domestic dogs, coyotes, badgers, and great-horned owls kill a few. Diseases, vehicles, and farm machinery are more important sources of mortality.