- Alright, Coyote Pack, for the very first time, I'm going to go face to face with quite possibly the
stinkiest animal in the world. Yep, a skunk. And I'm sure you're thinking, "Oh yeah, you guys
working with a skunk, "it probably is degland, "there's no way you're
gonna get sprayed." No, this skunk has its glands and there is the chance
that I could get sprayed. As a matter of fact, there's a chance all of
you are gonna get sprayed. Oh yeah, get ready,
it's skunk time. - [Male] Oh boy. (upbeat music) - [Coyote] Every once in awhile, I have the chance to work
with some pretty cute animals like B-Rad the baby sloth and Mr. Bean, the tamandua, two animals that are being
raised and rehabilitated at a wildlife sanctuary called
Kids Saving the Rainforest. I imagine everyone
out there watching would love to get up close
with a sloth or an anteater but what about a skunk? That's right, I had the chance
to go face to face with nature's most
notoriously stinky creature. Get ready to meet
Jungle the Skunk. Okay, here we go,
skunk coming in. Oh, look at you. Oh, oh. Coming right for the camera and kind of have a bit
of a warning there guys. - [Mark] Oh that tail's up. Oh no, Mario turn the line
of fire right now, buddy. - Good morning. Good morning
Jungle, how are you? This is Jungle and she is
a striped hog-nosed skunk. Oh boy. I just feel like I
need to put my hands up when the butt is just like that. - [Mark] Now, that's not
gonna do you any good. - Now, most of the time, now what's very unique
about Jungle is, alright, yeah, careful
there, careful. - [Mark] Oh boy. - You guys know, it is incredibly difficult
to present with mammals. What I don't want to do
is just grab onto Jungle and try to hold her in place. She needs to feel as if she
is controlling this scene. I love how they pounce. Now, she is less than a year old and the hog-nosed skunk is actually one of the largest
skunk species in the world. This one specifically is
the striped, hog-nosed skunk which is native to this
area here in Costa Rica. They have such
incredible personalities. All members of the mustelid
family are curious, they are playful. You can see she's
just bounding around having a great time this morning and you never know what
she's gonna do next. (giggling) Jungle, hi. - [Camera Man] She's running circles around you Mark.
- She likes the cameras. - [Mark] I know, I see that. - There you are,
there you are, hi, okay, thanks, that
was a nice kiss. Kissed by a hog-nosed skunk. So I know a lot of you have
written in and you've said, "Coyote, are you gonna enter
the spray zone with a skunk?" Guys, really, do you think I
want to be sprayed by a skunk? Not only will that be
horrible for me and the crew, I'll stink for days, but you guys can't smell
through your screens and uh, actually funny story is I was sprayed by a skunk
when I was in fourth grade. My dog went into the garage, there was a skunk in there, the skunk sprayed, I got it all over me and I had to stay out of
school for several days because I smelled so bad. The good news about Jungle here is that she's very calm
being around people and there's not a great chance
that we're gonna get sprayed but--
- But there is a chance. - Well, yeah, you're
right, there is, if we agitate her but as you can see, she's very interested
in playing right now. Come here, let me see, oh good morning, good morning. You know what might be interesting?
- She's so playful. - Skunks actually, believe
it or not, love eggs. Do we want to try
maybe if i break an egg and see if she'll lap
it up out of my hands? Look what Coyote's got. - [Camera Man] Think
you have the good stuff. - Okay, now look, at this, look at the stripes down
the center of her back. Most species of hog-nosed
skunks have a solid white line but the striped
hog-nosed has a dual set and you'll notice how, look at, there's hardly
any fur on her tail. Now, she did also
have a skin condition when she came here
to the sanctuary, her tail was completely bald but the good news is
she is healthy now and you can see that the fur
is starting to grow back. Oop, don't want to
touch the tail too much. And eventually, it will
be this elegant plume of white, bristly fur. Now, alright, I'm
gonna do something a
little bit dangerous, Mark, come over here. That right there,
that's the spray zone. Now the way that a
skunk's spray works is they have two glands on
either side of the butt. Now, if a predator comes
into the environment and the skunk is alarmed, they will emit just
a little bit of musk to give off a smell which is basically
a warning that says, "Mess with me and you're
gonna get the full dose." If the skunk is
agitated to that point, what it will do is project
two streams of musk out at an attacker. They can shoot it up to 10 feet and their aim is
extremely accurate. So something like
a bear or wolf, if it comes in, tries
to make a meal of skunk, gonna be a really bad day. Did you eat all your egg? You're not gonna spray
me in the face, are you? This is a point blank
range right here. Give her a little butt scratch. - [Mark] Did you ever think
you'd be this close to a skunk, especially that close
to the danger zone? - I don't think
anybody ever thought that I would be this close
to a skunk's backside, especially one that still
has its musk glands. Now, skunk's are
opportunistic feeders so pretty much anything
they come across out there in the
wild is fair game but they specialize in foraging which means that they search
around in the leaf litter, digging with their claws
for grubs or little worms, they will eat berries, they eat roots. These creatures just will
feast on anything they can find and right now Jungle is eating
some fresh chicken eggs. Oh, that's good, huh buddy? Look at the front claws there. Looks just like the foot of, let me see if I can hold it up, look at that, just like the paw of a badger, razor sharp claws, that is cool. - [Mark] Easy, Mario. - [Coyote] Uh oh. - [Mark] Easy, Mario. - Little risky. You'll notice how the skunk is just able to move
underneath all of these logs, she's got bunch of dirt
up on her back now. The really course fur
allows her to stay warm if it every gets cold out, obviously skunks here
in the rain forest don't ever get that cold but the fur is incredibly dense and there are these
bristly guard hairs and then underneath, just like all the other
members of the mustelid family, there's very soft,
downy-like hair. I feel pretty comfortable
with Jungle at this point and I think she would really
have to be upset with us to actually spray. If I don't move, oh, she's digging at my boot, oh, oh, oh, she's on my head, oh, huh, well that was a first, getting completely
walked over by a skunk. Going for a morning run. Whew, I gotta work on my cardio, okay, let's go this way, let's go, come on, uh oh, she's gaining,
she's gaining, I'm getting chased
by a mustelid. Ah, it's gonna get me. She's gonna get me. Here she comes. Oh, good lap, good lap. Alright, let's go again,
here we go, ready? Let's see, let's see, there you are, oh, you're so pouncy. Whew, I think I
need more exercise, I'm getting winded already. Oh, good job, okay, come on, come on, you got this. One very important
aspect of Jungle's day is that she gets
plenty of exercise. So right now getting her out here in
this natural environment just getting her to
run back and forth is very important for
her rehabilitation. Ah, this is exhausting. I definitely need to
work on my cardio. This skunk is running
laps around me. Alright, Jungle, I'm
ready here we go, come on. Oop, she's making a pee, making a pee, okay, oh, and a poop. Now, even skunks poop
as you'll notice she's morning business, I guess we ran it right
out of you, didn't we? Whoa my goodness, that is a yeah, Jungle that's a serious
number two right there. Okay, well, little exercise,
little bathroom break and I think it is
back off to the races. Okay, come on, let's go. Oh now she's
quicker on her feet. (deep breathing) What a morning hanging
out, getting exercise with a baby hog-nosed skunk. Thanks, Jungle. The good news is that
in just a couple months Jungle is going to be released
back out into the wild. Just another incredible
success story here at Kids Saving
the Rainforest. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave, stay wild, we'll see you on
the next adventure. Alright, I'm ready, let's go. If you thought paling around
with a skunk looked like fun, make sure to go back and
watch the time I got up close with one of its most
elusive relatives, the Alaskan mink. And don't forget, subscribe, so you can join me and the crew on this season of
Breaking Trail. Look at that, I put a camera in my hand and
she comes over to hang out. Oop, there you go,
okay, I see you. Whew, that's the danger
zone right there. I'm paying attention
to the camera and all of a sudden I've got
a skunk butt right in my face.
