Three new species join the “acrobats of the skunk world.” Scientists found three new species of spotted skunks, who do handstands spraying.
“There are a lot of places where spotted skunks are not doing particularly well at all,” says Samantha Wisely, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville who was not involved in the research. “They’re these incredibly cryptic and very shy species, and so we just don’t know a lot about them and that makes them really hard to conserve.” Now, she says, this new paper provides evidence that there are far more distinct species of this animal than we realized.
He and his colleagues thought that a more thorough look at the genetics of spotted skunks might reveal some additional members hiding within the four known species. Gathering enough skunks to analyze proved to be a challenge, though. This was partly because the agile skunks can be difficult to find and catch, and partly because of their protective stench.
The researchers next examined the skunks’ DNA. First, they looked at the nucleus, the part of the cell containing the majority of genetic material. They also analyzed the mitochondria, which are the energy-producing cellular structures that contain. Analyzing both types of DNA allowed the researchers to build a more complete picture of the skunks’ evolutionary history, Ferguson says.
The findings may also shed light on a phenomena seen in some spotted skunk populations known as delayed implantation, which allows the animals to mate in fall and then wait to give birth until the spring.
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