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The striped polecat (Ictonyx striatus), also called the African polecat, zoril, zorille, zorilla, Cape polecat, and African skunk, is a member of the family Mustelidae that resembles a skunk (of the family Mephitidae). [3] The name "zorilla" comes from the Spanish word "zorillo", meaning "skunk", itself a diminutive form of the Spanish "zorro ...
In Southern United States dialect, the term polecat is sometimes used as a colloquial nickname for a skunk, [7] even though polecats are only distantly related to skunks. As a verb, skunk is used to describe the act of overwhelmingly defeating an opponent in a game or competition.
Polecat is a common name for several mustelid species in the order Carnivora and subfamilies Ictonychinae [1] and Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank (i.e. clade ). The name is applied to several species with broad similarities to European polecats , such as having a dark mask-like marking across the face.
Several other names attributed to S. putorius include: civet cat, polecat, hydrophobian skunk, phoby skunk, phoby cat, tree skunk, weasel skunk, black marten, little spotted skunk, four-lined skunk, four-striped skunk, and sachet kitty.
The Saharan striped polecat is nocturnal and solitary. It hides during the day in other animals' burrows or digs its own. It generally gives birth to one to three young in spring. [2] It moves about at night in the open in a quite deliberate way, with its tail held vertically. [3] It is known to spray a foul, skunk-like anal emission when ...
The twelve species of Mephitidae are split into four genera: the monotypic Conepatus, hog-nosed skunks; Mephitis, skunks; Mydaus, stink badgers; and Spilogale, spotted skunks. Mephitidae was traditionally a clade within the Mustelidae family, with the stink badgers combined with other badgers within the Melinae genus, but more recent genetic ...
Mephitidae, the skunks and stink badgers. Mustelidae, the weasel (mustelid) family, including new- and old-world badgers, ferrets and polecats, fishers, grisons and ratels, martens and sables, minks, river and sea otters, stoats and ermines, tayras and wolverines.
Symplocarpus foetidus, commonly known as skunk cabbage [5] or eastern skunk cabbage (also swamp cabbage, clumpfoot cabbage, or meadow cabbage, foetid pothos or polecat weed), is a low-growing plant that grows in wetlands and moist hill slopes of eastern North America. Bruised leaves present an odor reminiscent of skunk.