Welcome to this issue of Stumped by Nature, where we notice nature lurking just beyond our screens, curate a list of outside-y events in Austin, and build community with other folks in the thick of the startup ecosystem.
In this week’s issue:
Our small and formidable pal, the skunk
Upcoming outdoors events
Potential day trips
Let’s dig in!
-Nicole
PS Send this newsletter to someone who might like it. If someone forwarded this to you, sign up here!
NATURE SPOTLIGHT
Their presence makes grown men flee.
Dogs have an insatiable curiosity for them.
They are so. very. cute.
Today we’re rooting around with skunks, and we’ll obviously start with the tail end.
Hi, friend!
Let’s start by poking around their anal glands.
When a skunk needs a predator to back off, it sprays a noxious liquid, emitted from modified sweat glands. Skunks have a carrying capacity of five to six sprays, and they take a week to recharge. The stink is courtesy of thiols, sulfur-based compounds you may recognize from rotten eggs, overcooked cabbage, and natural gas detection additives. A single drop can waft its malodorous charm half a mile.
The main skunk odor-causer is 3-methyl-1-butanethiol. Which leads to a tangent.
Perhaps the memory of undergrad chem lab leads me to wonder about the potency of human armpits. Are humans on an evolutionary path toward weaponized stench?
The internet says kind of, if we try hard enough. While human sweat doesn’t smell, skin bacteria goes full pac man on sweat proteins during moments of stress or heat, and those proteins break down into volatile sulfur compounds. While skunks pack in military-grade sulfur, humans indulge in the glamping version of potency. For now.
I have a working theory that Austin, on the forefront of the slope of stressful innovation with aggressively hot summers, has the chance to lead humanity into a scent-saturated realm of horror here. Be the stress-induced odor beacon you wish to smell in the world.
Or maybe reduce the overall stress in Austin by wandering through nature more often?
End tangent.
I knew you were trouble when you walked in.
Activating anal glands is not just a nocturnal hobby. Because spraying takes a lot of energy, skunks limit their sprays to the following reasons:
Their boundaries are being crossed, and they’ve already communicated with petulant foot stomping, hissing, and raising their tails before going full “I need to speak with a manager.” The strategy here is to cause avoidance through trauma.
Not to dog shame, but Sunny, a beloved neighborhood pup, has been sprayed roughly six times. Sometimes we need boundaries to be reinforced over and over and over again. Working memoir title: The Six Sprays of Sunny and the Bulk, Industrial Strength Skunk Shampoo.
Related: this is the skunk spray Sunny’s adults now keep as a pantry staple.
It’s mating season, and male skunks roam widely to find their temporary female companion, but blast other male skunks in the competitive process
It’s mating season, and female skunks are not impressed by the caliber of the skunk trying to impregnate them, and blast the male skunks in the competitive process
They’re just little baby skunks and they find it fun to make havoc reign as they sleep off their joyful spurting
In addition to Dog Sunny, owls and coyotes are cool with close proximity to skunks. Great Horned Owls are immune to skunk spray, and these owls incorporate skunks as part of their diet. If you capture this midnight snacking on your backyard security camera, you’ll need to share that with the class.
We’re going to imagine this little guy never encounters a Great Horned Owl
Skunk Reproductive Scoop
Mating season is late winter—maybe you’ll woo a skunk this year if you really give it your A game
Female skunks can delay implantation of fertilized eggs for a few weeks until external conditions improve
Gestation is two months, with baby skunks arriving in May/June
Female skunks raise kits solo, tending the fam in hollow logs, brush piles, and the cozy space under your deck
At two months old, baby skunks form a little choo choo train behind their mothers for foraging trips
By late summer, skunks divide and conquer into their own territories, where they control pest populations, keep beetle larvae in check, and bulk up for cooler weather
During cold snaps, skunks can exist in a semi-torpor. Very relatable.
With predators (dogs, owls, cars), the average wild skunk lifespan is two to four years, but they can live eight to twelve years in captivity
All aboard!
Author Note
Due to a series of nature-based backyard traumas, I moonlit as a trapper for exactly twelve hours.
Instead of attracting my intended target (see Critter Corner below), I captured a skunk. Cue immediate regret.
Many thoughts, all negative.
And several decisions:
transporting the caged skunk in my fully enclosed vehicle was not viable
next time someone explains how to open a live trap and why there are post-production twist ties included, I will fully listen and take detailed notes
default to action, right? Right?!
And so this is a tale of how I walked toward certain doom, wearing sunglasses as eye protection, to unleash my skunk in captivity.
Forged from mutual terror, Skunk and I came to a peace treaty. The ordeal was fully anticlimactic. I squelched the cage gate up and twist-tied the thing to stay open, then I ran the eff out of there. And the skunk took a nap in the cage. For, like, three hours. I was working from my back porch when it finally emerged, and I had a brief, potent fear that it would seek me out to retaliate for its weird nap, and that I’d be skunk-sprayed live on an external Zoom call. But, no, the skunk slunk its way under my fence back into the wild, and I reoriented to the wild of disembodied faces on my screen.
Neighborhood Mystique
My neighbor steadily refills a cat dish on her front porch, and it has become a true front stoop of wonder and nocturnal awe. Legends spin out of places like this.
Our portion of the street widely agrees that there are ambiguous, mysterious fortunes told by which creatures visit the porch in which combination, and all would be revealed if only we were able to reach through the fauna veil.
Some days, it’s a skunk slinking off the porch with a full belly to nose under the slightly ajar garage door. Clearly a good omen, of discovery and adventure.
On our best night documented thus far: three skunks and an armadillo. How do you top three skunks and an armadillo? You don’t. We’ve reached the top, and now that’s our baseline. It’s nice when life works out for the best.
How’s your Jack-o-Lantern stash doing?
UPCOMING EVENTS
🗓️ November 14-16: Austin Studio Tour: Y’all. I dipped into a handful of studios last weekend, and couldn’t have been more delighted.
🗓️ November 15: Mountain Biking 101: Registration is technically closed, but worth a phone call if you’re motivated. Wear a helmet!
🗓️ November 15: Backyard Birds of Austin (!!): Supplement your Birding 101 knowledge
🗓️ November 14-16: Panda Fest: The food is going to be legit
🗓️ November 19-23: A Christmas Affair: Not nature-based, but worth being indoors for these curated market days
🗓️ November 20: Lantern Tours at Laguna Gloria. Lantern-lit, guided art tours
DAY TRIP
🚗 Through November 16: Wurstfest | New Braunfels: Polka!
🚗 November 13-16: Surreal Luck : Willie Nelson personally invites you
🚗 November 15: Fall Farm Fest: Bastrop is ready to show you a good time
🚗 Through November 30: Texas Renaissance Festival: Not to brag, but I once attended a Ren Fest wedding. Chain mail was involved.
LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKETS
👩🌾 Arboretum Food & Artisan Market Saturdays 11-3
👩🌾 Barton Creek Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 Lakeline Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Sunset Valley Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Bell Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Mueller Sundays 10am-2pm
CRITTER CORNER / SHOW AND TELL
I’ll give you three guesses why I needed to upgrade chicken coop defenses.
So adorable. So bloodthirsty.
I need to know your mundane wildlife encounters. Think of this as a driveway chat with your neighbor. I’m your neighbor now. Spill the tea.
POP QUIZ
What’s the difference between a bison and a buffalo?
HOMEWORK
Forward this to someone in your life who reminds you of a skunk.
That’s all for this week!
In the meantime, I hope you know that you’re also potent and fearsome behind that cute exterior.
-Nicole
OPTIONAL SIDE QUESTS
🪵 What’s this like for you? Email with your perspective.
🪵 Community is thrilling. Email with events I should feature or partnerships/collabs we could consider.
🪵 Is this newsletter not your vibe? Send it to your enemies to make them suffer too.
💰It’s safe to assume there are affiliate links, and I’ll monetarily benefit from any purchases you make. Hooray, capitalism!