This doesn’t look like a skunk, but it sure smelled like one — strongly! The smell overtook everything in all directions as I followed far behind this hiker. History be told! Interestingly, I had just met someone an hour before who told me his dog had found a dead skunk a few days earlier, and that the odor remained incredibly strong on the dog’s muzzle, even though the dog had not been sprayed. I wonder if it was the same skunk.
Actually, it is just as likely that this coyote rolled on the odor pouch or gland of a dead skunk as it is that it was sprayed. Coyotes tend to love perfume — the smellier, the better. Dogs, too, engage in this activity — wallowing on smelly carcasses, or even grasses that have been fertilized with smelly substances such as fish emulsion.
Interestingly, I read that skunks do not spray each other — they reserve this defense technique to ward off possible predators.
Mar 17, 2011 @ 12:17:07
I live in Maryland and hike often.
Have come across coyotes, but my dog warned me away