Skunks

In modern English "the skunk" commonly refers to the striped skunk. This is the skunk most commonly portrayed in English-made media. However, "skunks" can refer a suffix of various animals within Mephitidae that contain the suffix "skunk" in their common species name. These animals are known for their defensive scent glands and their black-and-white patterns. They aren't a particularly well portrayed animal in media, but they are well known to Americans. This is in part due to children being warned about the circumstance of them ever encountering a skunk- as it is difficult to get rid of the smell, a child should learn to recognize a skunk so that they do not approach it. However, despite their smell being famous, the method of how they release their scent has undergone some confusion. They release a liquid spray and do a handstand while releasing it. However in media and in common knowledge (or at least before the internet) people assumed skunks farted or were just generally stinky.https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SmellySkunk
Some famous characters that are skunks are Flower from Disney's Bambi and Pepe Le Pew (and his unrequited black-and-white cat lover who resembles a skunk) from Looney Tunes. Other less popular skunk characters and monsters include Skunky and Skuntank, latecomers in Pokemon. While skunks as a group of animals can have different sorts of black-and-white patterns depending on their species, a "skunk color" refers to a black creature with a solid or mostly black body and a long white stripe on top. A good example of this is the Skunk Brush of Neopets.https://sunnyneo.com/rainbowpool.php?species=all&colour=skunk#infohttps://www.neopets.com/pool/all_pb.phtml?f_color_id=68 Other variations of this may evoke the sense of a skunk pattern. For example, Shadow The Hedgehog looks almost skunk colored to me, with his red stripes being in a top position and ending in sharp points on both sides the way they do. 
== References ==
Category:Skunks
Category:Mephitidae