As of 2011, there were reportedly 3,000 Island
Spotted Skunks on Santa Rosa island alone.
It is distinguished
from spotted skunk subspecies on the mainland by its shorter tail and less white abdominal coloration, slightly larger size, broader skull, and proportionately less white and blacker in the fur.
Western spotted skunks mate in September and October, and following delayed implantation and a 210 - 310 day gestation, give birth in April and May to 2 - 6.
It is distinguished from
mainland spotted skunks by its shorter tail with less white ventral coloration (45 % white compared to 55 % white), slightly larger size, broader skull, and proportionately less white and more black in pelage color.
Island
spotted skunks show little morphological variation between islands, aside from the skunks found on Santa Rosa Island being slightly longer than those found on Santa Cruz Island.
[FN50] Castillo reported witnessing dogs, gray foxes,
Eastern spotted skunks, raccoons, black vultures, blue jays, European starlings, and Eurasian collared doves feeding on left over cat food at feeding stations in Miami - Dade county parks.
The genus Spilogale includes all skunks commonly known
as spotted skunks and is composed of four different species: S. gracilis, S. putorius, S. pygmaea, S. angustifrons.
On Santa Cruz Island,
spotted skunks nest in cavities, burrows, and other natural crevices, as they do on the mainland.
Like the mainland subspecies, the island
spotted skunks exhibit sexual size differences, with males averaging 28 % larger than females.
The elevational range of the Channel Islands
spotted skunk extends from sea level to approximately 2000 feet.
Range Channel Islands
spotted skunks currently occur only on Santa Cruz and Santa RosaIslands where they are widely distributed.
Habitat Spotted skunks on the Channel Islands show habitat preferences similar to those reportedfor the mainland subspecies.
To examine the causes and consequences of the increase, we assessed abundance, body mass, home - range size, spatial resource use (den sites and habitat use), temporal resource use, and diet of island
spotted skunks during abundance in 2003 - 2004 and compared it with similar measures during rarity in 1992.
The geographic range of the
Western Spotted Skunk extends from central Mexico through the western United States to British Columbia (Rosatte 1987).
Unlike the island fox and the island deer mouse, the island
spotted skunk shows no little differentiation between the two islands as well as the mainland subspecies, suggesting recent colonization of the species.
These include a total of 4 subspecies
of spotted skunks (Hall 1981; Verts et al. 2001).
However, island
spotted skunk populations on both islands began increasing in the late 1990s, coincident with the decline in island foxes caused by golden eagle predation.
There are 11 species of skunks, which are divided into four genera: Mephitis (hooded and striped skunks, two species), Spilogale (
spotted skunks, two species), Mydaus (stink badgers, two species), and Conepatus (hog - nosed skunks, five species).
Cameras at Samuel P. Taylor State Park have revealed a second mountain lion, as well as rarer species such as
the spotted skunk and the river otter.
Volunteers have helped catalog hundreds of thousands of photos, which have shed light on the activities of rare mammals like river otters and western
spotted skunks — a species that may be in decline.
Three mammals are endemic to the archipelago: the Channel Islands fox, the deer mouse and the Channel Islands
spotted skunk.
Island
spotted skunks on the two islands differ only slightly, with those on Santa Rosa spotted skunk being slightly longer than those on Santa Cruz.
Species like the island fox,
spotted skunk and island birds have all evolved without raccoons and without the diseases and parasites that raccoons can carry.
The island
spotted skunk is endemic to the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California.
when the Island
Spotted Skunk had a small population and was not well - studied, the skunk that time was designated as a species of concern.
Channel Islands
spotted skunks are nocturnal.
Deer mice and small vermint follow, along with insects, lizards, and small birds, mammals and fish, like
the spotted skunk.
While the female sits on the eggs, the males spends time hunting and defending the nest from predation by gopher snakes, island
spotted skunks, island foxes, common ravens, and other island scrub jays.
The Channel Islands and the waters surrounding hold many endemic species and subspecies of animals, including fauna such as the Channel Islands deer mouse, the Channel Islands
spotted skunk, island scrub jay, San Clemente loggerhead shrike, and San Clemente Bell's sparrow.
This conclusion leads researchers to hypothesize that
spotted skunks were brought to the islands by either rafting or intentionally by Native Americans.
On Santa Rosa Island,
spotted skunks were found to be associated with rocky canyon slopes, cactus patches, chaparral, coastal sage scrub, open woodland, other scrub - grassland communities, and riparian habitat along streams.