Dwight Hill, age 14, of Ottawa, Ont„ for his question:

Does the skunk have and enemies?

In the wild woods there are famished foxes, ravenous bobcats and blood thirsty weasels„ Sometimes this horde of hungry meat‑eaters is joined by a cantankerous bear or a stray dog  The world of the pretty little skunk is full of dangerous carnivores to whom ha looks like a tender morsel, Whatis more, ha is slow and careless as ha ambles along  Many of these would be enemies are tempted to pounce but only once,

A wise fox leaves the skunk strictly alone  This goal for the bears, dogs and bobcats who have lived long enough to learn and avoid the pitfalls of woodcraft, Theca fellows may have tangled with a skunk when they were young and reckless  The experience taught them that fangs and talons were no use against the chemical warfare of the furry little black and white fellow, They learned to recognize his pretty stripes and avoid him forever 

The skunk’s chemical ammunition is made in a pair of musk glands under his feathery tail  There ha manufactures a stinging, yellowish liquid with an odor strong enough to befoul the air in all directions and cling to fur and clothing for days to some  When provoked, he squirts his big guns, one at a time, right in the face of his enemy • and his aim is very good  His tormantorts nose smarts and stings, his eyes run and ha may be temporarily blinded, Meantime, the skunk strolls leisurely away smelling fresh as a daisy » for ha is very, very careful to get none of his perfume on his own glossy coat,

This mastery of chemical warfare tends to make the skunk lazy and careless in his ways  Since he does not fight with tooth and olaw, ha rarely feels aggressive  He defends himself only when provoked and never wastes his ammunition  Ha is a polite animal and when attacked faces his enemy and serves warning with a low growl and a stomp of the foot  If the warning is ignored, he swings around in a flash and fires his big guns with accuracy 

The skunk, then, has very little to fear from the carnivores of the wild woods  Ha can afford to be careless with them and lazy in his ways  He does not have to sharpen his wits and keep alert  And this has made him rather a slow thinker  He has not learned to avoid the traps arid other pitfalls set by man, the hunter  Apart from the various diseases which attack all wild animals from time to time, man is the only serious enemy of the skunk  And this is a pity, because the little fellow helps keep down the rodent population, for he is very fond of mouse meat 

The pretty skunk belongs to the animal family Mustelidae the weasel  type animals  Is his cousins include the best dressed animals in the world the mink and the marten, the sable, the outer and the elegant ermine  Like them, he has a luxurious fur coat  He also is hunted for his chemical ammunition  Of all things in the world, this musk is sold as a fixative in making sweat smelling perfumes