AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -If threatened, skunks stamp their front feet, lift their tail, and growl. Some species of skunk even spring into a handstand before spraying, which puts the skunk’s warning markings on full display. If the person or animal doesn’t retreat, the skunk aims the spray at the eyes, allowing the skunk to escape.

Detailed explanation-2: -Spraying Stinky Stuff These glands are located on either side of a skunk’s tushy and produce a fluid with a super stinky smell. This fluid is a defensive weapon which the skunk uses against its potential predators, but they use it sparingly and only spray victims when they feel threatened.

Detailed explanation-3: -Adaptations: Skunks are best known for their ability to spray a supremely foul-smelling musk from two glands near the base of their tail. This thick, yellow liquid effectively deters most predators, including humans, and can be temporarily blinding, allowing the skunk to scurry away to safety.

Detailed explanation-4: -Skunks spray to repel potential predators with a foul-smelling, oily secretion stored in their perianal glands. For humans, it usually does not result in much more than short-term irritation. In dogs, in addition to irritation it can rarely cause a more serious condition in which the red blood cells are destroyed.

Detailed explanation-5: -The major component in skunk spray was erroneously believed to be l-butanethiol, until it was later shown that the actual compound was (E)-2-butene-l-thiol. More recently, two studies identified the third major compound in the secretion as either (E)-2-butenyl methyl disulfide or (E)-2-butenyl propyl sulfide.