Ologies with Alie Ward - Mephitology (SKUNKS) Part 2 with Jerry Dragoo

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

What happens when you've been sprayed nine times in the face by a skunk? Part 2 with Mephitologist Dr. Jerry Dragoo answers that question. Also on the agenda: pet skunks, lavender skunks, skunk family planning, Pepe Le Pew on trial, why some of us enjoy the stench, how to handle a skunk approach, if skunks can smell themselves, and the very bizarre circumstances by which this guest first rose to international skunk fame. Also: the proper way to watch a skunk. Check out the Dragoo Institute for the Betterment of Skunks and Skunk Reputations A donation went to Friends of Big Bear Valley “We Meet At Last” skunk shirt by jbstink.com More episode sources and links Other episodes you may enjoy: Zoohoplology (ANIMAL DEFENSES), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Road Ecology (ROAD KILL), Discard Anthropology (GARBAGE), Indigenous Fashionology (NATIVE CLOTHING), Literary Olfactology (THE POLITICS OF SMELL), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Meteorology (WEATHER & CLIMATE) 400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topic Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes Sponsors of Ologies Transcripts and bleeped episodes Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes! Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee Managing Director: Susan Hale Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth Transcripts by Aveline Malek  Website by Kelly R. Dwyer Theme song by Nick Thorburn Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Oh, hey, it's still your brother's best friend's girlfriend, who is a chatbot, Allie Ward. And it's part two of mephatology. It's all about skunks with a guest. If you listen to Part 1, you know I have hunted them down for years. I begged them to me on, and they said yes, despite a lot of humble shyness. So in part one, you learned a lot of skunk basics. You heard some yarn spinning, some good stories, and now we're going to get to some more salacious gossip about skunks with this Albuquerque-based career skunk scientist and researcher who founded the Institute for the Betterment of Skunks and Skunk Reputations. Also, stick around for the post-show secret this week in which I reveal his reaction to part one of this series. But before we get into it, thank you

to all the folks over at patreon.com slash ologies for supporting the show for a dollar or more a month and for submitting your questions to the ologists ahead of time. Thanks to everyone out there finding each other in their merch from ologiesmerch.com. Thank you to sponsors of ologies who make it possible for us to donate to a charity of choice each week. And as always, thanks to the listeners who just leave reviews for the show, which help us so much. And yes, I do read all of them. And I prove it with this still sticky one. It's fresh from Cite, who wrote, I have a skunk that likes to visit my yard. He's adorable. I want to know more about him. Searched Ologies for a skunk episode. No luck. The next week, Skunks Part 1. Can Allie read my mind? C-Tay, I can, which is how I know

you're excited for this part too. Also, podcast lover 531, we do have a whole episode about ants. It's called Mirmacology, M-Y-R-M-Ecology, with Dr. Terry McGlynn, and we will link in the show notes. It's another favorite of mine. What happens when you're bitten by a bullet ant? Terry will tell you first hand, specifically first thumb. So yes, thank you everyone for leaving reviews. Okay, let's get back to Skunks, Part 2, in which we're going to cover pet skunks, advice for if a skunk approaches you, if they can smell themselves, pepipulor, courting rituals, sort of, why some of us enjoy the smell, the very bizarre circumstances by which this guest first rose to international skunk fame, and the cliffhanger question we left off with in part one, which was,

what happens when you've been sprayed nine times in the face by a skunk? with charming, dryly hilarious and deeply knowledgeable methodologist, Dr. Jerry Dregou. And what happens when you've been sprayed nine times in the face by a skunk? Was there a first time it happened where you said, well, that'll be the last time? Or were you like, that's fine? So the first time I was starting off, I was an undergraduate still here at UNM. Jerry's advisor had him head to the southern part of New Mexico to try to trap one or all four species of skunk there. And so I went out one weekend. I had 12 traps. It set all on my head sardines. And I ran out of sardines on the 11th one. So I had banana peel that I just threw with the last one.

Some time elapsed and... And I started checking my carnivore traps. And I was thinking, okay, I've got 12 skunks. What I'm going to do? Well, of course, the first one was empty. Oh. The next 10 skunk traps were empty. And finally I got to the 12th trap, the one that had the banana peel. Yeah. And I caught a skunk, striped skunk.

Huh. And it's like, now what do I do? I was not given instructions on what to do now. I was like, okay, so I know that if I can stay calm, I should be able to do everything. And I managed it. It took me like maybe 45 minutes. And I finally got him covered up, lifted the trap up, put it on the tailgate on my bumper. I was driving a VW bug at the time.

Oh. Put it on the tailgate of my bumper and I bunched corded it in. Just drove back to my campsite. I set him out there and took the cover off because I didn't want him to do anything. And so I was writing my field notes. And then I just stood up suddenly. And there was like this liquid across my chest on my notebook. And it's like I looked up because I thought it was raining.

Looked over at the skunk in the trap. Both ends pointed at me. No. And I said, well, this ain't so bad. And so I teach you my work. Three days later, they wouldn't let me in the museum. Oh, no. Okay, so we covered this last week, and again in Dr. Ted Stankowicz's episode on animal defenses,

but I'm going to tell you again, in case you missed it, in case you need to grab a piece of paper, if you want to jot this down in your notes app, maybe you want to pull over on the highway, you write it in Sharpie on that balled-up fast food napkin in your cup holder, jot it down. So tomato juice, flim-flam does not work, and no water at the start. Do not just hose down yourself or a pet. What you need to do first is oxidize the sulfurous thiols. You need to get yourself a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and liquid soap.

Okay, here's the recipe. You ready for this? 32 ounces of hydrogen peroxide, that's like a quart, one third of a cup of baking soda, and a tablespoon of liquid dish soap or pet shampoo. No water, all right? You just mix those three things together. you rub it into the fur of a pet or yourself, let us sit a minute, and then you rinse it out, and do it more than once if needed. And if you or the pet gets wet again and you smell it,

that means you miss some spots. So do it again. You got to make a new batch of this every time you need it because it does not keep well. So I'm going to tell you again, 32 ounces hydrogen peroxide, it's quart, a third of a cup baking soda and a tablespoon of dish soap, right? Picture it. If you're like numbers, don't do it for me. Picture it two pint glasses, all right, of hydrogen peroxide, a little fistful of baking soda, and a palm full of soap, okay? Imagine it. Two pint glasses, a fistful of baking soda and a palmful of dish soap. Memorize it.

One dark, stinky day in the future. This formula is going to save your ass. You want to make sure you don't get it in the eyes because hydrogen peroxide in your eyes is not good. So do not get that in your dog's eyes. You can stay away from the face as much as possible, although more than you. then likely that's where it got sprayed. But, you know, rub the nose a little bit. The soap should help break up the oily stuff and the hydrogen peroxide will, and baking soda will oxidize the sulfur compounds. Oh, oh. That'll kind of neutralize the odor. Oh. Okay. So it's not the worst thing that's ever

happened to. Some people, as dispenser said, will skunks befriend cats, which we've, they're more so than dogs? Marlon Jay says, I see skunks in my yard hanging out with foxes, raccoons, and possums, even a bobcat. None of these animals seem to be too concerned with being sprayed. Just one big friendly neighborhood party. Any insights or thoughts on that? Are they in the wild, like, friendly? Yeah.

They tend to be solitary most of the time, but they're not antisocial. Okay. And so, again, as long as they're not fighting over resources, and animals are all about the same size, it's going to be, you're going to be in a fight. It's one thing that gets sprayed and you're in a fight. But it's another thing, if you're a bigger animal, you can just chomp it.

And so they're not as threatened by all those other animals. And those animals also aren't as threatened by the skunk because the skunk is not going to attack a bobcat. Oh. So then they're sort of like, I know what you're packing. Yep. Yeah, they're just not as, they're not as threatened by each other. Right. I had no idea.

I would think that everyone would run from a skunk. But it's good to know that they're like, well, we're chock. You don't have to. The skunk's first behavior is going to be to run away. Yeah. So if yours is just stand there. And more than likely, they will come up and they'll walk around your feet, do little circles. as long as you don't make any sudden movements,

you'll be fine. Really? Yeah. If an animal, if you are just standing there, mind your own business, animal comes and bites you, that might be a different issue.

Okay. Okay, that would be that thing. If you get bit by his gun, you really should have it tested for rabies. Right. All that kind of stuff. But for the most part, if it's a normal,

healthy animal, just in your backyard, you can probably stand there and he walk around you and do his normal thing. And as long as he's not acting weird and threatening and all that kind of stuff,

then... Is it that sudden movement kind of like a threat on your part, like that's you saying, I mean, go after you, but if you just sort of like stand still and you don't run after them. Yeah, and just even just if you slowly walk away, if you don't want them walking around your feet, you can slowly walk away. Okay.

That shouldn't be a problem. I think a lot of people assume that they're like a grenade that has no pin. They could just at any moment. You know what I mean? But they probably don't want to spray you as much as just be left alone. Yep. Yeah. Well, any other advice to people who encounter.

a skunk of just, you know, not to panic. You could observe from a distance. No need to chase it out of your... Yeah. As long as he's not coming after you, there's no reason you need to worry about it. Okay. She or she, whatever. So it doesn't matter if they're, they're just going to be out there doing what skunks do, and they don't care if you're there or not unless you threaten them. Once you threaten them, first thing to do is try to run away. If they don't have a spot to run, then they'll do their threat behavior. They're stomping. If that doesn't work, then they'll spray you. Third strike. You're out? Yep. What about each other?

Elish Ollman says, I always see a pair or maybe pairs of skunks roaming around my SoCal neighborhood together. They look like they're foraging in the grass together. But also, they really look like they're on a cute date. Are they lovers? Best friends, mama, daughter. Is this common? Whenever my boyfriend and I see them, we whisper, we are the skunks. So I hope they love each other. Ranger France wanted to know, in all caps, do I have to be worried about finding packs of skunks? So they're pretty solid. solitary from what you said, right? Yeah, but they're not antisocial. Okay. So they're hanging out together. It could be mom and young.

It could be sisters, highly unlikely that's a male and a female because the females seem to tolerate each other a lot more. Right. And males are just out doing what males do. So probably not a cute date, but either way, it is a cute hang. But we don't know. Well, I don't know. I don't ask the preferences.

It could be a cute date for all you know. They could. They could be doing just an alternate type of child rearing too. So it could be a very cute day. Thank you for pointing that out. Okay, so skunks are like my Catholic family. They may have two babies or 12 babies. Now, these babies make their debut in late spring. The Stink Badger, we talked about last week, those babies can come a little earlier. And yes, patron Kelsey Corey, it is true that female skunks can delay implantation until conditions are better to ensure survivability of their young. So the Western spotted skunks specifically can breed in the early spring, like all the rest of skunks, but they use this strategy called delayed implantation where they just kind of pocket that embryo for months in the uterus until they're like, is now a good time? Okay, great. And then when the weather or the food sources of their stress levels are all good, something called nidation occurs. And the word nidation comes from the root, meaning to nest. And they're not the only ones, more than 130 species of other mammals.

That includes like some rodents, some weasels, some seals, and some bears can also delay implantation until the time is better and they're better prepared to raise kids, which means that, yeah, some rats have more agency over their family planning than humans in the United States. Well, speaking of the young end, real quick, any romantic breeding rituals? Do they do anything cute while they're romancing each other? Do they stand on their legs? I'm thinking about a podcast you did with the otters.

Oh, no. Sometimes it doesn't end well, even for the otters. And according to a hellscape of a study titled Patterns of Mortality in Southern Sea Otters, about 11% of dearly departed sea otters spotted by researchers died by mating trauma. 11% and the violence is not just male to female. within same species boy bottles, sea otters can also hit below the proverbial anthropomorical. And you did not like the otters. But they're induced ovulators.

Okay. So they have to have that aggressive biting and everything to stimulate the hormones to release, to ovulate. So that's why a lot of those animals do that kind of stuff. It's because otherwise they just, hey, want to go out for a drink? That's not going to work. So musselids, so the, like, weasels have to show that aggression in order to induce ovulation. Yep. That has to stimulate to get those hormones going.

Wow. A horrifying new fact that I didn't know I didn't need to know. And yes, during the mating season in February and March, a male skunk or buck can wander up to five miles in one night, just looking for, we'll call it love. And females tend to be one and done when selecting. the daddy of their babies. But the males are called promiscuous by scientists, not even petty ones, because they'll do it with anyone who won't spray them in the face. And no, female skunks do not spontaneously ovulate on a schedule like our species. They do ovulate just after mating. So they are

all topped off with the one guy's sperm and then an egg goes down the chute. And according to this 1965 paper I found titled Rudding Activities and a captive striped skunk in Oxford academic. During their rutting season, yeah, male skunks become more energetic, agitated and aggressive, kind of like your cousin's roommate who's weaning off of gas station cratim, and they stomp and they bite, they bear their teeth, they're ready to fight off competitors or just show their potential mates just how strong a catch they are. real chud shit, not romantic like we see in the movies.

Wait. Pepe Leapue. Yeah. Okay, now, Peppy's got a bad rep because, I mean, yes, Pepe does like this cat and you think that's kind of strange. The cat

also likes Pepey. You think so? Have you ever, well, watch her behavior. She wants, she's doing everything she can to get to know Pepe, but she can't stand the smell. If Pepe gets of the smell, the cat and the skunk get along. Watch closely next

time. So that it's not... It is not an aggressive... He is not being aggressive towards that cat. She is turned off by the smell, not his advances. So this is a Pepe apologist, but also an ethologist in terms of canine

and feline behavior and the smell being the barrier between them. Yes. This is a whole new way to look at this. And it's The odor, that's the problem. That's part of that reputation. And if you watch those cartoons closely,

the cat is never turned off by Pepe. It's his smell. I'm in a revisionist history. I'm going to go, I'm going to watch this. I think you might have a point here. I bet we can find who wrote those and see if they have any behind the scenes on it. I bet we can find it out.

Okay, so yes, Pepe has been canceled. A few years back, some culture critics were like, hey, Hollywood, maybe you should stop telling on yourself here. But if you do a deep dive on the history of Pepe, if you were, if you were a skunk expert and you have done this, which now I have done to verify this, there are episodes that show some reciprocity in desire. So the object of Pepe's affection, as he calls her a Belle Femke Fethel is really a silent and delicate cat called Penelope, or sometimes they call her for Brett, and she has an unfortunate fence paint stripe down her back. It's confusing for Pepe.

But in a handful of episodes dating back to the late 1940s, she pursues Pepe because in one, she has a head cold, can't smell them, or in this one heart-wrenching gift of the magi turn, Pepe has locked himself in a deodorant plant, while Penelope rubs Lindbergh. cheese on herself to stink. They're each masking their attributes to gain the other's affection. Ultimately, reversing the role of pursuer, Pepe wants nothing to do with stinky, cheesy Penelope. Now, in another episode, Pepe douses himself with Cologne and Penelope chases him, only for him to realize, at last, that non-consensual affection is, in fact, not welcome. But I'm not going to lie, I've watched clips, and he comes on way too strong.

and quite aggressive. I would claw him in the face and I would ruin his reputation also. A cautionary tale for everyone. And apparently, Pepe, who keeps hearing the word Pew come from bystanders, he at some point looks up Pew

and he self-diagnoses as stinky. Kind of like a revelation you would have going down a TikTok rabbit hole on mental illness in the middle of the night. Some people, Mugda Yola, wanted to know if they know that their spray smells lethal. And if they mind the smell,

do they have a sense of smell? Yes, and they prefer, they do the exact same thing. If they get sprayed in the face, they'll rub it in the dirt just like a dog will. Because they don't like any sprayed either. In fact, skunks really don't smell bad. You mean other than their blood? Yeah, well, when they release that,

it's what they spray that smells bad. Yeah. The skunks and cells are fairly clean. Oh. Now, a lot of times, and this is when you get them underneath the house, is that they may have a toilet area under there. And obviously the feces is going past the same nipples.

And if there's just a little bit of hint of, if it's just like it'll pick it up. And so I have people say, yeah, at 3 o'clock, every day right here, I smell that. He sprays under there. No, he doesn't. I'll tell you what he's doing. He's taking a dump.

It's just like they need some glade down there. Do they get any of the roundworms that, raccoons do? Yep. Oh, they do? They're susceptible to a lot of things. Well, Kristen wanted to know how fast, do they, can they outrun you? Today? Yes.

I move a lot slower than I used to. There was one time, we had a mammal class. We were in the back of a pickup truck, and we showed up on the area, and we had just getting ready to run traps. We were also doing spotlighting. We had permits, and, you had permits. and Texas parks and wildlife, they're all aware of what we were doing. And we're on Robert Farmer Patton's land.

And he did a lot of work with skunks in Transpego, Texas. And we were in East Texas on his land, doing trapping stuff there. And so we're all in the truck getting ready to get started. And I just jumped out of the truck. They didn't have my shoes on. I just started running. And somebody yelled, skunk.

There was a barbed wire fence. and if I were younger, I would have just hurtled it. Barbwire? Barbed wire? I would have just hurtled the fence. I don't like that. If I were older, I would have just said, I'm not doing that. But unfortunately, I was at that stupid age between when I was younger and like, you know, two days ago.

I dove through it. No. And, of course, it wasn't a clean dive. Of course. I threw a barbed wire fence. You would get a score of like three. on the in the

Olympics. And so I'm going after this skunk and I had started running from a long way back. And of course the skunk saw me

so he's running as well. And both gets getting tired. Oh, no. And for some reason I was thinking

about when I was a real teeny tiny person, everybody was my size. I used to play football. Uh-huh. And I remember a coach

saying, if there's ever a fumble, don't try to pick it up, dive on it. Oh. For some reason, that thought came into my head. Oh, no.

And, of course, I just, I dove. Oh, no. His teeth went right into my finger. Now, I was wearing gloves. Okay. But then that tail just flipped me up across the face. And he's just full both barrels. So I get up, and I start carrying them back.

And, of course, the students are all just standing there. You're standing there. Like, what the? And I come back, and then this animal, I was holding it by the table. tail and he reached up and grabbed the base of his tail and grabbed my finger again and was biting on me and Gwen comes running through the barboard fines and she's got a stick and she's puts in his mouth that's pulling it up and trying to get it let go on my finger and the students in there goes wow that was awesome oh jeez i've never seen anything like that it was so cool i'm getting all big

chest and everything oh yeah and they go she must really love him And then, of course, I could feel the barbed wire. I could feel the skug teeth. I mean, did you need, like, a tetanus and a rabies double booster after that? Or do you have to get, as a skunk biologist, you just like straight up have a rabies shot just in case? I've been vaccinated for rabbi. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And my tighter is still, well, the last time I checked it was relatively high.

Pretty good. You still have some immunity at least toward it. And you have a good tetanus shot, too? Because a barbed wire fence, sir. Yeah, I've done tetanus as well. Oh, God. I'm not anti-vaxxer. Okay.

You better not be, unless you're pro-ravees. Like, let's get as much rabies out there. But again, you have to remember, this skunk was acting natural. Yeah. It was acting normal. It's normal to bite you. If he was chasing after me, yes, I could have outrun him. Yeah.

But I was chasing him, and he was trying to outrun me, and unfortunately, we were both tired. Yeah. If the skunk can't deter you a spray, he won't. bite and scratch. And it will do all that other kind of stuff that animals do to save themselves. I think in the court of public opinion, you started it for sure. I think a jury of 12 skunks would find that you started it. And there was a lot of witnesses there to say that. You know, I was running before they even saw the animals. You can't. You do not have a case here. I'm not trying to defend myself. I'm just telling the story. Listen, you were there. You were literally

standing on business, though. You were on a field. So you got to do it. A skunk biologist has to do what they got to do. Yeah, exactly. Well, actually, on the topic of rabies, though, this one clearly didn't, but Jess, Amy Arrugula, Adi Capello, Lynn, and Marissa Winker, wanted to know. Jess asked how prevalent is rabies and skunk populations Amy wanted to know. Tell us about skunks and rabies. Is it true that the vaccine doesn't work on them and actually gives them rabies? Or are they just getting a bad rap for rabies unfairly?

The rabies vaccine protects them from rabies, but not. not the law. Oh. If a vaccinated skunk bite someone, they have to be tested because the vaccine hasn't been tested on skunks. And we were trying to do that when I was working on skunks. We were trying to get money to do vaccine study. And also just prevalence of rabies in the different populations because I had a colleague

in southern Arizona where you had four different species. And striped skunk rabies, they go through these cycles. and what happens to the rabies when the cycle goes down. And we're thinking there's other species around there that could potentially be carrying it, but since they don't interact as much with humans, you're less likely to see it. So their population could also be cycling at different times.

Yeah. And so it is possible that if it is there, if it is in that area, they could have picked it up. Not every skunk has rabies. Skunks have to be exposed to it. Mice have to be exposed to it. Mice are usually eaten by the rabbit animal. So that's why you don't.

see a lot of rabid mice running around. Oh. Is it less common than people might presume? Again, it goes through cycles that it depends on where you're at. Like in southern New Mexico, we've had an instance of fox rabies that went up just several years ago. And so we were having a lot of animals get tested. Are they susceptible to like distemper and parvo too? Yes. They are. So according to the centers for disease control, if a skunk bites you,

the chances that it does have rabies could be up to 20 percent, all right? So if you see a skunk stumbling around kind of drunkenly, its tails maybe dragging, avoid it, call animal control. If you ever handle a skunk, any skunk, wear protective gear and gloves. Because even if a baby skunk, if any skunk nicks or scratches or bites you, it will have to be killed to test for rabies. It can only be diagnosed by euthanizing it and dissecting its brain tissue. And there have been outbreaks of rabies from people capturing a wild one, breeding it, and then selling them as domesticated. Not a good idea. So if you are exposed, even potentially exposed to rabies, you're looking at a 100% fatality rate for the animal.

Also for you. Your chances of surviving rabies, if you get it, are literally pretty much zero. You cannot escape rabies without a series of pretty expensive. expensive post-exposure shots. So be careful. And we mentioned rehabbing, though, in part one. And licensed and trained wildlife rehabbers are usually pre-vaccinated against rabies. Now, what about skunks? Can't you just vaccinate them? Well, in the wild, that's pretty rough. You cannot go around shooting a bunch of rabies vaccines into wild ones. We talked about that in part one. But domesticated, you could try to get an exotic vet to administer the same type of rabies shot. Your dog

might get, but it's off-label use. It's not technically legal. There are flock cameras everywhere. I don't know what they're going to get you on. Well, this brings me to pets, because, and I know that your stance on pets is a yes and a no. It's not that do skunks make good pets, but do people take good care of- What makes a good pet is a good pet over? Yes, right. You can't even keep a pet skunk, right, unless you're a wildlife rehabber. Is that true? It depends on what state you. you're in. Okay. Some states will only allow you to have a pet if it was born at a, like a fur farm. The fur farms used to raise skunks and they'd sell the pelts. And now they're selling pets. Yeah, just take the yell out. And so they can also do the, they look at, do some of

the genetic manipulation to get the different color patterns and everything. And so actually some states that say you cannot own a black and white skunk. But if you have one that's a different color pattern. You can probably keep that because it probably came from a fur dealer. So yeah, fur dealers, they're kind of like dog breeders. They have sold skunk pelts for hundreds of years, not as many these days, but they would sometimes spell them under these little white lies, little white striped lies, calling them American Sable, which is not true, but it sells more than skunk. And other breeders have selectively just churned out skunks in colors. It sounds like a frozen yogurt menu. They're always.

are lavender, apricot, champagne, black swirl skunks, black chip, smoke, white-on-white, mahogany, and more. Do they try to do genetic manipulation to desent it, to breed out descent glands? That would be really, really hard. Yeah, I imagine. Yeah. Because, again, remember, this is something that's been around for a long, long time. Yeah. Some people asked, C.C. Goldstein wanted to know, are there ethical concerns in having pet skunk?

I've always wanted one, but I don't know if one would want to be my pet. And a lot of people wanted to know that. Okay, and we will get to that in a moment, but first, let's donate to a cause of Jerry's choosing. And this week, we're helping out friends of Big Bear Valley, which has educated different groups, governmental agencies, and the public on local, state, and federal environmental laws. So they actively work to protect the Big Bear Valley's wildlife and habitats and biodiversity. You can find out more about them, and you can watch their 24-7 live. bald eagle nest cameras, which I have done a lot. It's so wonderful. I dropped a lot of gossip last week in the mid-roll break about that. You can find out more about them at friends of big bear

valley.org, which we have a link to write to show notes. So thank you to Jerry and sponsors of the show for making that donation possible. Okay, skunks as pets. What would it take? Is it okay for the skunk? Asked Sam and Katie, Jill Landry, Emma Ruhoff, Jason, Jason, Struthers, Jen A, C. C.C. Goldstein, Tina in Cincinnati, Mary Kirby, R.J. George, Jessica Muncie, Jovi, D, Becky the Sassy, Seagrass, Seagrass, and First-Time question askers, Hannah Quinn, Mark Reed, and Claire Weidner, as well as Jessica Farrell, who asked, I know a lot of people talk about removing their scent glands and keeping them as pets. Ethics of both those things just sounds sus to me. Also, Greg Wallach said, when I was young, some neighbors had a pet skunk. Do they want to hang out with us? And I also

always think about this, and I think there's so many cats and dogs out there that would love to be your pet that are legal to own. But how do they become pets? If they're orphaned or, yeah, if they were from a breeding facility, like a fur farm. Yeah, those are, typically that's where they will sell them from there and say, here, here's some young ones. Yeah. We at the zoo here, are probably going to get three young ones that were bred at the zoo that they're coming from. And so they're going to be coming here. I'm not sure what the timeline is on this. But obviously, they're not going to be passed,

but they're going to be ambassador animals. So they will be, you know, show people around. This is what skunks do and that kind of stuff. They will have all been dissented. Oh. And a lot of people, that's the first thing that you have to realize, though, if you descent an animal, you have taken away its protection.

If it gets out, it can't defend itself. Unless somebody just recognizes, oh, it's just a skunk. I'm not going to worry about it. Yeah. But Coyote comes along. Nothing happens. He's going to take him down.

Do they know they're dissented, do you think? Or do you think that they're... Yeah, they still go through the... The motions. Yeah. Right. They're looking at you with both ends. They'll do the stomp in and look at, yeah.

Oh, that's a great thing that you brought up because I didn't know that they did this. Warning signs. So Elsie loves things, Jennifer Lewis, Adi Capello, Ashley Oki. Katie Kennedy, Ominick, Kamey, Dana wanted to know. One, Katie just asked, Stomp. and Oman Kicks said, Stop, Stop, Stomp. So a lot of people were very excited.

Dana wanted to know what's up with their aggressive tippy taps. So is that the primary warning sign? Is the little tap, tap, tap. Yeah, that's the first sign. Because again, the first thing they're going to do is run away. They can't run away

to turn around and face you and they'll do the stomp. And the spotted skunk, that's one actually gets upon the front feet. Yeah. But yeah, they'll do the, just stomp like that. And then if you don't,

then they can get more aggressive. And I have no skunks. I've seen them just get up on their back feet and just come down and boom and slam the ground. Like I am warning you. This is coming. Yep. Right? Do they do that as babies too?

Or do they learn that? I've got videos of the young ones running along and then they'll just throw their weight on the front feet and they'll come up just like a spot of skunk. But they're totally out of control. Really? You know what they're doing. A lot of times I'll roll over and fall back down. And the babies. Yeah.

And my friend Simone, somehow her yard, I think, because she's got orange trees in a little basement, tends to be very scong-heavy. And there was an orphan baby that she was keeping on a heating pad to give to the rehabber. And she said that they told her, if you hold it with its tail tucked up over its butt, that it can stop it from spraying you.

Is it true, or is it going to help sort of like an oven mitt? Yeah, the little ones you really don't have to worry about. Okay. Yeah, that's small. Allie belts wanted to know how. How older skunks when their stink glands become active. Cheyenne, Gabia, Julia loves fun facts and Valby listening, All Wander Snow as well. The earliest I was sprayed was at three days old.

Three days? But it wasn't, it was not that big a deal. It was more like a fart. Yeah, just like a bo. Yeah, it was just kind of a poof. And it was like, oh, I think it's sprayed. Adorable. But now as they start growing up, it becomes very liquidy or very thick.

And so it's harder for them just to really. let it go. But when it comes out, it's a big old thick ball of... When we were filming the nature program, when I had the younger animals, we get out there, and I was holding the animal, and it sprayed three or four times. I said, okay, that's enough.

I gave it some cheese, walked back, and I could hear them looking at the video going, oh, wow, oh, that's it. And I said, okay, I got to see this. I ran inside, and they're just like, oh, man, get out of that. After about the fifth or six, one, I'd give them the cheese, and I come back inside and we just all stand there and look at this.

And yes, of course we're going to post a still image from this PBS documentary. Is that Skunk? On our Instagram. And we'll also link it on our website at alleyward.com slash ologies, mephatology. But I dug around the PBS website and I found a 2009 article. It was written by this episode's producer, James Donald. It was titled The Answer, How We Got the Skunk Spray Shot. And the producer describes this slow motion shot.

It was filmed at a thousand frames per second. And he says it might be the most disgusting shot ever to air on PBS. So to pull it off, what they did is the camera and the camera crew stayed in Jerry's garage. And they filmed Jerry, who's outside through the glass pane. So there was a separation there. And James Donald writes, after a couple of sprays outside, the odor started to seep through the seams of the window. However, it was never very bad. Andrew and I felt lucky that we weren't outside with Jerry.

However, Donald continues. Soon, we discovered that we were not safe from the stench. Jerry was so excited by the thought of seeing a skunk spray in HD that he occasionally ran into the garage to look at the footage. And after one extreme spring adventure, Jerry ran into our room, only to have all of the air in the room leave upon his entry. Andrew and I were brought to tears. I eventually had to dispose of the shirt I was wearing, he writes, even though I never got within a foot of Jerry throughout the filming. And the other camera crew member had to do the same. He said, Jerry's eyes were watering all night even though he couldn't smell a thing.

So the resulting slow motion footage, it's, okay, it reveals like a slightly convex anus, okay? So a little bit of a cone shaped because it's working, right? It's got two nubby thumb-shaped tiny maroon nozzles, also known as nipples, protruding, and then just a fountain of glimmering, bright yellow, golden skunk, stink exploding, like liquid glitter. It's astounding. Susan is preparing to post a still on our Instagram, and we just had a lengthy text exchange over whether or not it needs to be censored or if it will be flagged.

without even smelling it. It's just looking at it. This camera crew endured so much. Jerry is like a superhero who can defy gravity. He will never know the weight of the smells this world has to offer. They got used to it. Yeah. So then we went back out and I got mom. And mom, I could not feed her cheese like that because she was, well, she was wild. And so I got her and I had her scruff down and got her tail up, blew her some kisses. On the butt. And she's the one that you saw that picture of. And I could just hear them look at it that video.

And I came back inside and they almost lost it. After I had been sprayed by the younger ones, I came out after mom and they were just like, uh-uh. You're just like just another Tuesday for a drag. Yeah. Come on. Well, what about moms? PHMD, first-time question asker, Ricky G, eating dog hair magda, Jillandrie, Claire Gebbin. Other folks who asked are Marla J, Ranger, France, Adi Goodpeth.

pillow and potato puffer. They want to know, Peach, MD, asked, are skunks good parents? How long do their babies need to be cared for before they go off on their own? Marla Jay wanted to know if the dad stick around at all. What is their reproduction like and they're rearing? I'm going to stick with the striped skunks for now.

Okay. Because we know a little bit more about that. They have different numbers of babies each time. But in all cases, dad does not stick around. Okay. is there for the, I don't want to say the important part, but because... Important to him.

Yeah. The emails should be able to figure out how to do this without males. That's a whole other, that's a whole philosophical thing. It has nothing to do with skunks, really. Yeah, that's cross-species. Yeah, that's not skunk stories. So they will have them and moms will take care of them and they will do as best they can if for whatever reason they get pulled away, because mom will actually grab one,

move to a new den, go back, grab another one, move to a new den, and they'll do that. But if one of them disappears and then comes back two or three days later, she may not recognize it. And just say, yeah, get away for me. I mean, it's possible if they still have some, they may take it in. But if the whole litter disappears, the hormones kick in and said, I'm starting over again. Oh, wow. And so it's like, you're no longer part of this.

But as long as they're taking care of them, they will take care of them. Yeah. And let's see, late April, early May, when you start seeing the young born. And the first thing, they stay in the den with mom because they're nursing. And once they start waking up and their eyes open, their ears open and their teeth start coming in, mom will start taking them out a little bit and teach them how to forage. And so you'll see a lot of them. And early May, late April, I guess, you'll start seeing a lot of the young ones when they start coming out.

And that's a lot of times mom may get hit by a car or something. And that's when people say, oh, there's a bunch of baby skunks in my yard. What do I do? Yeah. What do you do? And that's hard. It depends on where you are because some states it's illegal to rehab skunks.

If you collected them and took them some there, they would just have to be euthanized because they're so afraid of rabies and they're more worried about that. And so other states will say, yeah, a licensed rehabber could take them and they could do something with them. And here in New Mexico,

I was working with our local wildlife rescue. And so I was basically there a skunk person. So I would go out and pick up a lot of baby skunks, and we would try to raise them until late summer, early fall, when mom would naturally be kicking them out of the house. And so at that time of their life, it's programmed that they need to start looking for a new place to live. And so that's what we would try to get rid of them. Just in general, though, best to just give them a lot of space, let them do their thing, don't provoke them or don't dive after them

unless you're a wildlife biologist who's wearing gloves who has a rabies vaccine, right? You know, there's a lot of people who wouldn't even go that far. Yeah, I'm going to say, yeah, even that, I'm like, I'm good. Have you ever heard of a net? Addie wanted to know any info for people who might want to volunteer and help with skunk research and conservation, this person says maybe a biologist who's rabies vaccinated,

which means I imagine this person is, but do skunks need help right now? Do they need our help? How are they doing? I think they're doing pretty well, at least the striped skunks. There's going to be some areas like the spot of skunks. There's concerns in different parts of their range

that could be, you know, habitat modification. Climate change, they may be moving further north. I think Hog-nosed skunks are tending to move a little bit further north. They were reported in Colorado in the 30s, but then kind of disappeared. and now I think they're starting to move up that way again. There was one recently seen at the Colorado, New Mexico border in New Mexico. It still wasn't in Colorado.

But I mean, it's having an argument with one of the editors that we published the story. And she was saying that it's because we have game cameras out, we're seeing a lot more stuff. And I said, well, no, that's not. That's probably true. We are stealing a lot more things than we used to. Yeah. But I think they're also moving north because in some areas where they weren't seen, I have spent many, many hours driving down, many years driving those roads,

looking for these things. And then they had one came up in an area that I had searched for many, many years, and they found it using the same technique driving around. Ah. And so, okay, yeah. But I think the game cameras are picking up a lot of stuff. What are you listening to when you're on these long drives? Are you listening to, like, some Willie Nelson?

Are you thrown on an audio book? Like, when you're on these long drives at night looking for skunks? They're usually classic Western music. You are wearing a Western shirt. Yeah. Maybe some... In the field again. Just can't wait to get in the field again.

Trapping mammals. Don't tempt oligites. They might just write that whole song for you. A couple more questions from listeners. If that is okay. Oh, tails. We had a great question about the tails. They have them.

I didn't realize that. They have them. They're so cute. Emotional support, human, wanted to know, why do their tails look like something you would use to dust a fan? Ara Victor wanted to know. why do they have such small little faces?

And a lot of people, I couldn't even begin to list one. So why are they so cute? But why such big, tail, small heads, in your opinion, does that make them cute? I think it does. The small head, I'm not sure, that may have been from their primitive ancestors if they were more going underground

and going after burrowing rodents because a lot of when that grassland was opening up, you started getting a lot of ground dwelling. So when you think about your weasels, they have the small heads and that allows them to get in there. And I think the tail may have come afterwards as more of a threat and a warning.

Because it's a big, very flowery black, just poof. Yeah, that spot is skunk. It looks like someone wearing a Las Vegas showgirl headdress and then absolute stink farts coming out of that headdress, which is horrifying. Mark Grumman did want to know in Allie Betts if any predators are immune to skunk spray.

Minnie Me wanted to know as well. Mark wanted to know, what praise on skunks. Who dares prey on a skunk? Owls. Really? They, if you go to a museum collection and go to the owl cases, yeah? A lot of the, you'll get a skunk spell in there.

Stop. There's a lot of times they're coming up from high, and so the skunk doesn't really know there, and you just come down, boom. No. Oh, my God. I've seen a picture that was the New Mexico Museum, Natural History, and they have a picture of a mountain lion and a skunk around the little watering hole. He went back a couple days and went up and found the remains, so they will get taken.

Do you think some predators are like, hmm, it's worth it? Yeah. And dogs, for example, they tend to get sprayed and for some reason they just like it. Is there a good way to teach a dog how to stop pulling a Jerry? Just getting sprayed in the face? How do I teach something not to be me, yes? Yeah. You think somebody would have tried that technique on me already.

They're like, it worked on my lab. This is what animal behaviors did for me. I mean, is it just that they don't mind? It's worth it. Maybe it's worth the chase. Yeah, and a lot of times the animals that are going after them are hungry. Dogs usually just do it just to roll around and stuff. Yeah.

So they're not necessarily going out to necessarily hunt the animal. Yeah. You've got to have a hobby. It's not like they're out there crafting. Well, last of all the last. listener question, we have someone who lives on a continent where there is not skunks. Looking at you, Rachel Lakov, and Gabia Shemitete, who pleaded. Wants to know, for those listeners on other continents, unlikely to ever run into a skunk in person, what is the smell like? Be as vividly

descriptive as you can, please. And also, it smells different from afar than really up close, right? Because I love the smell of skunks. I love skunks. I love the smell of it. Driving, you smell it, it's sad because usually that means there's been a death or if it's far away. But I understand it's much garlic, more garlicky in your face. Rose petals. That's a lie, Jerry. It all smells like rose petals to me. Don't make me fact check that.

Remember, I don't smell good. What do you think came first? You're working with skunks or your inability to smell? Well, given the first time I was sprayed, it didn't mind it. It didn't buy. It's like, this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. Well, at least my younger life anyway. You're just the man to do it. You're just the one to take it off. So Jerry, fortunately for him, can't tell you what it smells like because he is a professional skunk expert who does not have a sense of smell.

Just take a minute. Just absorb that. And just what a beautiful, wonderful world we live in. That's evolution right there, baby. That is natural selection at work. So from afar, though, if you're not Jerry, it might smell like really strong weed and kind of diesel fuel, a little simmering onion and maybe like a hint of a Bunsen burner that's been left on. But to people who have been up close, like wet with it, from what I understand, it carries the aroma of rot, a tire fire and charred garlic soaked in catpice. trapped in a dome of broccoli farts. What we were talking about the smell? Oh, yeah. You described it as roses.

No, but yeah, there's the woman that we picked up an animal from, and she was, whenever she'd go to visit her grandmother, she would have that skunk smell. So whenever she smelled skunk, it was always a fond memory. Yeah. It always made her feel good. Me too. It reminds me of summer nights.

When I first met Jarrett, he rode a scooter, a Vespa, around L.A., even on the freeways, which is just a death wish. but he would ride near my house in the summer and smell the skunk. You could smell everything in L.A. You know, when you are on something that doesn't have doors. And so, yeah, I would always remind me of that. But we got a couple questions from listeners that are like, is it true that if you smell skunk, that means that there was probably a skunk around before?

Like, didn't know that like the smell lingers. Well, that depends too, in how they're spraying. Obviously, if they get hit, that's going to be real pungent right there. but if anything that gets up into the atmosphere will blow around a little bit. And if they're being chased by a coyote and do the cloud stuff, that can actually blow for miles. And so as long as it's still up in the area, you might pick it up somewhere. Now skunks in the winter will cozy into the state of torpor, which is kind of translated as laziness. So in the coldest winter weather, they might just kind of lay about living off their fat stores.

They're quite literally chilling. Now, on warmer days, then they may go toddle out to snack a bit. Now, spring and summer, it's high skunk season. You've got mating in the early spring, during which male skunks shoot their shot at doing the nasty with females, who will shoot their shot of anal gland spray in the faces if they are not having what he is laying down. Now, we're going to talk more about kind of a so-called courtship. But once the babies arrive in like May, they might be roaming about with mom in the summer. Also, as we learned, a skunk in the road thinks that like little tiny, cute stompy stumps and spray could protect against like vehicular skunk slaughter.

But if you live in a skunk-rich area, you know all too well about those striped sacrifices on the road's shoulders and the kind of cloud of those thigh-alls that accompany them. Well, what happens when it hits us in the nose? So according to the 2016 Journal of the American Chemical Society paper titled, Smelling sulfur, copper and silver regulate the response of human odorant receptor OR2T11 to low molecular weight thials. Our survival as mammals relies on the super sensitivity to sulfuric thial compounds. And it helps keep us from eating rotten food and trying to. hug carnivores and skunks have evolved to say, go on, get it, using those volatile sulfur compounds.

And we have evolved to not want them on us. And the paper classifies some olfactory categories like floral and aromatic, etc. But one class of those garlicky odors are called aliaceous, and they include substances like acylene and hydrogen sulfide and macaptans or thyls. And skunkyles. and skunky butts and also cannabis, aka skunkweed, have those mercaptains and thials. And yes, we have a two-parter on cannabis. It dropped a few months ago. It is a very popular episode. We'll link it the show notes. Worth a listen. But if you've ever been out on a summer night and you thought, is that a skunk attack or is that a teenager in the bushes, blazing up some gansha? And why do I like it either way? Well, there's an Oxford academic tech.

book, it has a chapter titled, Odors as Cognitive Constructs, History of Odor Classification, and attempts to map odor percepts to physical and chemical parameters. It explains essentially is really hard to study how smells hit us, but perceived odor qualities may best be viewed as cognitive constructs with variability due to individual experiences. What does that mean? So it continues that the majority of odor qualities are based on learned associations. meaning if skunks are out in the summer and it's a beautiful night, maybe you smell a puff of it or a puff of something else, and it creates this kind of safe, pleasant memory. So you'll take a deeper breath of it in future encounters. So go, not like that.

That's what research has concluded. And yeah, among the up to 10 million olfactory receptor cells we have, you have 10 million receptor cells. there are 400 classes of them, and this aside is not going to do it justice. Yes, we do need the olfactology episode that I have mentioned 500 plus times in the outro music. But as long as we're still talking smells, I asked Jerry what truly stinks about his job. The hardest problem I had was getting grant money. I couldn't get people to fund it, but I could not get grant money. And that's probably the hardest part of the job. You would probably rather get sprayed in the face with a skunk than have to do a grant. Well, the thing is, I've done a lot of grants and I just can't get them funded. What do you think it would take for people to understand how important skunks were for the ecosystem, for human interactions, for rabies research, pest control? Like, is that part of what drives your actual want for the betterment and the reputation of skunks? Yeah, it would be nice if people were aware because it's not just skunks. It's everything.

Yeah. Everything would be better. I mean, if we worked on habitat, that would help a lot of different species. If we considered global warming as a real thing, that would help a lot of species, ourselves included. Yeah. But I don't know. I think that's the, we don't have that kind of leadership in this country right now that

cares about science or facts or the future. Research. Yeah. Living things. Yes. For example. And I know you've got some data centers that are potentially going up around here, too. We were watching in the hotel room last night.

We saw a commercial about a data center. I imagine, yeah, environmentalists, ecologists, biologists couldn't be having a harder time. And I hear that from so many people that I talk to. I've listened to a lot of your podcasts where you talk about what's the hardest part? Well, getting funding. Getting funding. That data center, by the way, it was funded by Open AI. It's costing $500 billion.

dollars, $500 billion, and yet Drago can't get a couple grand for a skunk grant, despite the international press and the global interest in skunks and their ecological roles. It ain't right. And it's so surprising how the work is such a joy, but convincing people that it's worth it. It's the hardest part. And that is just so frustrating. And people are interested, and they keep asking me, and I get reporters. are contacting me and I'm giving this information. I give presentations around town and, you know,

it's like museums and I go up to Los Alamos and talk there and you know, I go down to the Gila and talk there and people are always interested. Wait, hold on one second. Didn't we say in episode one that Jerry started dragoo.org because of some press he got? Let's talk about it. Tell me about People magazine. We got plenty of tape. Okay. So I know what you're thinking. 50 most sexy people. That's right. Yeah. No? Not exactly. What?

So after I finished my dissertation, I submitted the article for publication to the journal mammology. Basically, I reclassified the skunk. The original title was a skunk by any other name. Nice. But the people I was working with, my advisor said, no, we need to call it systematics and must stella like carnivores. Exactly.

Boring. And then next thing I know. but maybe a couple weeks later, I started getting questions. Somebody called up and said, hey, I've been talking to some people about this article you wrote. Okay. So getting all these backstories and different perspectives about the classification. And an AP reporter, Martha Mendoza, I believe, she published an AP story. He goes out, so it's in lots of newspapers and lots of news stories.

I get a call from a fellow Mike. So he comes in, he says, we want to interview for people. I said, really? Okay, so first of all. What? All right, so he comes in. We spent like, I don't know, four or five hours at our kitchen table. He was asking me all these gunk questions.

And it's like, okay, for maybe 30 minutes. And we spent the rest of that time talking about all the people that he'd interviewed and everything he'd done. This is way cooler than what you're talking about. So then he says, oh, yeah, well, it's probably got to. come out on this issue. I forget what it was, but I was watching a bad movie on TV and was working on some DNA sequence and stuff. And they interrupted my bad movie with a news thing. So I hit the mute button. The movie came back on. I unmuted it, listening, listening, and then they interrupted

again. And this time I recognized a newscaster. He had a, like a white shirt, no tie or anything, five o'clock shadow. And I said, oh, this must be important. Princess Diana. was in an accident. Oh, I remember. Yeah. So I called up the reporter and said, what's going to happen to my story? Oh, dear. Because it's going to get bumped.

Oh, no. So the next time that issue came out, I went over to the magazine store. I looked at it, and there's all these stories of Princess Diana. And so it's like, uh, yeah, I looked through there. I said nothing. So I said it down. So that I went back the next issue and there's just goodbye, Diana. And I said, I'm not even going to look at that one.

I just turned around and walked out. And I get a call from Boston radio station, hey, you were just in People Magazine. We want to interview you. It's like, what? It's like, as I went back to across the street, I picked up 146. No. There I am.

About skunks? Yes. Probably one of the most collected People magazine issues. I grabbed like 12 of them, and I think the checkout guy thought I was some kind of Diana freak or something. And I was like, no, I'm on page 146. of every one of these. Talking about skunks!

Yeah. Oh, my God. And, of course, Gwen, in the picture, she's in the background. You still have a coffee of it somewhere, right? Yeah. At least 12. Yeah. Of course.

Somewhere. You must. It's September 97. Goodbye, Diana issued People magazine. So, Grants, and also Princess Diana's untimely death. Also, just a shout out to Julie at Indiana Skunk Rescue, who has rehabilitated and adopted an unreleasedable skunk and named her Princess Diana because she is very sweet, like her namesake.

I'm still sad about Princess Diana, who I hope is resting in peace with our American saint, Dolly Parton, who we lost today. I've cried so much about it already. So with good, there is bad. But with bad, there is good. Has there been something, though, in your life that just really lights you up about the work? Is it being able to be out in the field? Is it being able to be a voice for animals that are maligned?

Like, what is it about this work that kept you interested so long? Well, being out in the field and working with the animals, that's the most exciting part. But then to be able to bring the stories back and share those because some people are interested. Yeah. They keep asking questions and laugh when I tell jokes. Or even laugh when I tell the truth. The truth is often funnier than... In your case, it's more absurd than I feel like any other biologist I've talked to. And I think that there's such a reverence for skunks because they are so bold while being so cute,

while also being so threatening that it reminds you that these creatures that have been like this for millions of years and have evolved to occupy this niche of behavior, they can be so much more powerful than us standing on two legs and trying to chase after it. I feel like they're such an ambassador for how powerful nature can be and how much respect it deserves. And I've always loved skunks for that. Ernest Thompson Seaton. In 1913, he wrote a book called Wild Animals at Home. And the well-meaning skunk is Chapter 6, and this is his first paragraph. I have a profound admiration for the skunk.

Indeed, I once maintained that this animal was proper emblem of America. It is first of all peculiar to this continent. It has stars on his head and stripes on his body. It is an ideal citizen, minds its own business, harms no one, and it's habitually inoffensive as long as it was left alone. But it will face anyone or any number when aroused. It has a wonderful natural ability to take the offensive, and no man ever yet came to grips with a skunk

without being sadly sorry for it afterwards. Yeah, nevertheless, in spite of all this, and the fact that several other countries had prior claims on the Eagle, I could not source my view sufficient popular support to change the national emblem. If we had skunks on the seal Sitting on top of a flagpole I am all for that

I think you are my favorite Methatologist Have you ever Googled mephatology? Yeah, I found you Why do you think I'm sitting in a conference room In Albuquerque wearing a skunk shirt As striped socks I did that the other day as I googled

Methatology and I My was the only thing that came up And look at that here we are were new buddies. All it took was six years and persistent begging. Oh, God, you must have met a lot of interesting people doing this. People that you wouldn't have met otherwise, but someone's got a skunk story or someone's got a question. Well, everybody has a skunk story. People come out, hey, I saw a dead skunk on the road and I thought of you. I was like, the dead skunk reminded you of me.

Or did you see me and that reminded you of a dead skunk? skunk. I just, I'm not sure. You need to dye the sides of your hair black. Before it turned as white as it was, I used to have a hooded skunk look. It was kind of a grayish color. It was a little white. And then I got older. You have an opportunity here aesthetically to really pull something off. I hope that this inspires people, too, to just sit outside and watch their skunks little.

That's the best way to enjoy it. If you see a skunk in your background, just get a lawn chair, open a beer. You're back, kick your feet up and watch them. I love them. Thank you again so much. Amazing. So ask elusive people to elucidate life's mysteries, because in some cases, skunk facts await you. In my case, that is the truth. A million thanks to my favorite mephatologist ever, Dr. Jerry Dragoo.

Find out more about him at drago.org. And you can follow him on Blue Sky at J.W. Dragoo. He just joined because I pestered him into it. You can say hello there so that we could further pressure him to post some skunk pictures and tell some stories. So that's, again, linked in the show notes. Thank you also to Gwen Dragoo. We're all in love with you by Proxy, too, just so you know. You can find more links in the show notes of this episode as well as other episodes that you might enjoy.

If you go to alleyward.com slash ologies slash methodology, we have a ton of links up. If you ever need kid-friendly, swear-free episodes of Ologies, we do have classroom-safe Smologies episodes. Those are in their own podcast feed. You can just search S-M-O-L-O-G-I-E-S-Mollogies Smollogies. Wherever you get podcasts and you can subscribe there. We have Ologies merch at Ologiesmerch.com. And you can also join up on Patreon at patreon.com slash Ologies for a dollar a month. You'll hear what episodes are about to be recorded and you can submit questions ahead of time for the ologists.

We are at Ologies on Instagram and on Blue Sky. I'm at Allie Ward. Allie just has one-o on both. Erin Talbert admins the Ologies podcast Facebook group. Aveline Malick makes our professional transcripts, which are linked on every show page. Kelly Ardwyer does the website. Scheduling producer Noel Dilworth is our very own high-speed camera. Aiming our weekly nozzles is managing director Susan Hale and the dual stripes down my furry back are editor Jake Jafee and lead editor. Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio. Nick Thorburn stomped out the theme music. And if you are with me this far, I'm going to tell you a secret. This week, as promised, it's that I emailed Jerry to tell him the episode was up and it was great.

And he sent me a note back saying, I thought this was part two, sleep procrastination, the cure. Oh, Jerry, it's always humble and funny. But he confessed, I haven't heard it yet. too afraid to hear how I sound. Gwen said I was hilarious, but I don't know if she listened to this show or if it was just a random comment. He also told me he wished that we'd gotten to meet some skunks. So if you go to the Albuquerque Zoo, you can say hello to the three new ambassador skunks.

If you happen to see them, say hi for me. And say how to Jerry, if you see him, if you don't see him, you can also cruise the parking lot and give a little nod to the Subaru Baja with the license plate that says, skunks, that's his. Oh, another secret too. If you live in the southwest states in the United States, if you're hearing this in 2026, get your roof and your windows checked now if you can. We have a meteorology episode. We did a few years ago. We talk about El Nino and La Nina. It's with Dr. Marshall Shepard, who's a legend. But this El Nino storm, starting in October, is set to be a wet one. And by the time it hits, the roofers are going to be busy and it's going to be expensive. Also, if you need a job, I mean, be a roofer. Be safe, though, because gravity's no joke. Okay, go wave at a skunk for me. Be polite. Okay.

Bye-bye. Oh, wait. Oh, my God. I told you last week I would give you an update on what happened to Jared. We went to the ER. We were there for a very long time. We thought he had appendicitis. All signs pointed to it.

They did a CT scan, and it turns out my man has diverticulitis. So he didn't need an operation. that's cool, but he does have some divots in his intestines, and he like hasn't eaten a solid meal in almost a week now. Just jello and broth. He doesn't love it. I'll be honest with you. And I thought that seeds and pits were like off the table

because they can get like trapped in these little potholes in your intestines, but I read some new research from 2025, and apparently that's not the case. So if you have a flare up, you have to like, taking antibiotics and stuff. Anyway, it sucks. Poor dude's been like doubled over in pain, but he asked the nurse. He was like, I think younger than both of us at the ER. Like, why did, why me? Why? Why did this happen to me? And she just said, you're getting older, honey. And it was so brutal, but so iconic. And I can't tell you how many times we've said to each other, you're getting

older, honey. We say it a lot now. Okay. But he's on the mend. He's doing okay. And again, if you want the skunk shirt that we talked about in this episode and we put on our Instagram, go to jb.stank. com. J.B.stink.com. He makes great shirts. There's also one that says, I like bugs. Okay. He's fine. All right. Bye-bye. And I think it smells delicious.