Skunks, Stink Badgers, and More: These 5 Animals Use Smell as Weapons, Self-Defense

Some animals have the unique ability to deter predators and defend themselves by releasing a terrible, foul smell. In fact, scent is a popular mechanism that some animals use for deterring predators. Let's take a look at some animals that use smell as weapons.

Animals That Use Smell as Weapons

Skunks

Among these animals, skunks are considerably the most familiar ones. While these creatures do have their own claws, these claws are designed for digging, not protecting. Because of this, they primarily depend on their awful emissions to defend themselves.

The foul skunk smell comes from its anal glands. These glands make an oily fluid with a strong smell. For skunks, these anal glands stretch out of their anus, enabling them to expel the oil outside of their bodies. Skunks are one of the few creatures that can spray these oils and shoot them off a distance of up to 15 feet. All 12 skunk species have this unique ability.

Skunks release around four tablespoons of oil at a single time. It may take them seven to 10 days for the liquid to be regenerated in their anal glands. While they can spray at an age of seven days, they can only accurately spray when they reach roughly four months of age.

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Stink Badgers

The name of these creatures speaks for itself. Stink badgers, or false badgers, secrete a foul-smelling liquid that they use for self-defense. Though this creature may resemble a typical badger, it actually belongs to the Mephitidae family of skunks.

Stink badgers have two species, namely, the Sunda and the Palawan stink badgers. Similar to skunks, they expel liquids from their own anal glands. They can shoot the liquid at a distance of up to three feet. This is also their main defense mechanism.

Striped Polecat

Often confused for a skunk due to their unique white and black stripes, polecats are actually related to otters, badgers, stoats, and weasels. They belong to the Mustelidae family. All mustelids have distinctive anal glands that release noxious secretions.

Being territorial creatures, these polecats use their glands for marking their territories. They also use it as a mechanism for defense. In fact, they have even been witnessed scaring lions off through the threat of spraying. Their spray can leave predators temporarily blind. It may also lead to burning sensations in the eyes and mucous membranes.

Green Wood Hoopoe

While this bird may appear defenseless and small, the green wood hoopoe has a unique trick. When the bird is threatened, it expels a foul-smelling fluid from the glands above its tail. The smell of the fluid can be likened to rotting meat.

Chicks can also release excrement streams that can spray up to distances of 20 inches. This serves as a manner of self-defense when their mother is not in the nest.

Millipedes

Millipedes typically curl up motionless when they feel threatened. They then release a foul-smelling cyanide-like chemical from its ozopore glands on their sides. On top of having a foul smell, their secretions also have a disgusting taste.

Because millipedes cannot sting or bite, the release of these chemicals is their main defense mechanism. The chemical includes hydrogen cyanide, hydrochloric acid, and other caustic compounds. Chemical exposure could also lead to skin discoloration or irritation.