Sometimes the underdog gets a victory.
Of all the animals I’d think a mountain lion would run away from, a skunk certainly wouldn’t be high on the list. Pretty much the only things in America that I can think of would be bears or alligators, but a video from Paradise, Arizona is throwing all that I thought I knew in a blender.
The moment was captured on a trail of some sorts and shows a large mountain lion prowling down the path in their typical stealthy way, but I do have to say it’s not very common for them to be spotted in broad daylight, as they primarily hunt during the night and stay tucked away in their dens during the day.
Skunks are also more of a nocturnal animal, tending to track down mice, moles, birds, and bugs while the sun is down to lower the chances anything sees them.
Obviously, the best defense mechanism of skunks is the vile mix of chemicals they store in an oily liquid in their anal glands which they shoot at anything gets too close. Fortunately, I’ve never been sprayed directly by one of these things but I’ve smelled my fair share of the residuals in the woods and it is not something I ever want to smell again.
Well, this skunk saw the mountain lion walking down the path next to it and decides to defend its territory against the much larger predator.
Immediately, I was thinking I was about to witness an absolute murder, I mean we’ve seen what these lions are capable of, but instead, the skunk actually gave the cat a bit of a jump and forced it to scamper down the path and away from the stinky striped mammal. It’s possible the cat wasn’t hungry, but it’s also possible it’s been sprayed by a skunk before and doesn’t want to try licking that off its hide again.
Sometimes it’s best to just be confident. It doesn’t always work, but hey, sometimes it does.
