What is the stinkiest animal in the world? This is a "smell" content

Many people have heard of the weasel's ability to fart. Some stories say that when a weasel encounters an enemy, it will fart and drive the enemy away. In fact, this statement is only half true.

There are two glands on the buttocks of weasels, which can secrete a very smelly liquid. When the weasel feels threatened, it will secrete this liquid to smoke the enemy away. This is its weapon.

However, "fart" is a gas, and the weasel's "weapon" is liquid , so it is somewhat inaccurate to say that weasels are good at farting.

Sure, weasels smell bad, there's no doubt about that, but there are relatives of weasels living in North America that are downright fragrant by comparison, and some argue that they deserve the title of the stinkiest animal.

This type of animal is called a skunk .

There are six species of skunks in North America. At first glance, they look pretty good, with black and white fur that is fashionable and eye-catching.

Like weasels, they also have hidden secrets on their butts - skunks also have two glands on their butts that can secrete smelly liquid. Most importantly, the smell of skunks is much, much worse than that of weasels .

What does a skunk smell like?

Those who have had the good fortune to see it have different opinions.

Some people say it is the smell of rotting meat, some say it is the smell of burning car tires, and some say it is the smell of sesame oil mixed with feces. In short, they are all smells that make people vomit as soon as they smell them, but they can never be forgotten afterwards.

It is said that if one part of skunk secretion is mixed in one billion parts of air, people can smell it. Moreover, the liquid secreted by skunks is not only smelly, but also very irritating. If it gets on people's faces by accident, their eyes will shed tears as if they were irritated by chili peppers .

At this point, you may have guessed that this smelly and strong secretion is actually a weapon used by skunks to fight against carnivorous beasts. If a wild animal, such as a wolf, comes to catch the skunk, it will come in handy.

The two glands on the skunk's butt have openings, which can spray out a very smelly liquid, spraying the wolf in the face! Moreover, the gland openings on the skunk's butt are convex, like a small turret. The most amazing thing is that these two "turrets" can also rotate like real turrets and "fire" from different directions . In this way, no matter which direction the enemy comes from, the skunk can hit it.

The only drawback is that such a powerful weapon cannot be used casually, and its "cooling down" time is a bit long.

In fact, after the skunk's super-stinky secretion is used up, it takes a week for it to secrete a new stock of liquid . During this period, without the smell, the defenseless skunk can only be slaughtered. So the skunk will never waste its "stink bombs" casually.

Therefore, when a skunk encounters a wild animal or a human and feels threatened, its first reaction is not to "fire", but to stand its big black and white tail upright and stomp its front feet like beating a drum. Sometimes it even stands upside down on its front legs, which looks very funny.

It does this to send a warning: "Look carefully, I'm a powerful skunk! Don't mess with me!" If an animal or person comes to bully it, knowing how powerful the skunk is, they will quietly avoid it and not provoke it.

In this way, the skunk's "shells" can be saved - Sun Tzu said "He who is good at using troops is the one who conquers the enemy without fighting." This little skunk can be said to have mastered the essence of the art of war.

Author｜Gui Youyu

Review | Huang Chengming, Researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences