...nothing eats a skunk! Except possibly maggots? Never got close enough to see!
Really, in the country we see more road kill that a person would in the city, or even in the suburbs for that matter. And we see a wider variety of road kill. From small stuff like poor turtles, to larger things, like deer.
Many of those smaller animals are dragged off the road and disappear, most likely eaten by another animal. Or we will see animals eating on them when we drive by. Crows, vultures, I even saw a group of turkeys eating on a dead deer (should have taken a picture of that!)
But hit a skunk...and that skunk will be there until the remains return to dust. I can say this with some expertise as I witnessed such an event. A skunk was killed at the edge of the roadway. He was laying mostly on the white line at the edge of the road. It was too late in the winter for flies to lay their eggs on it, and the resulting maggots to eat it, and so it just laid there, and laid there, and laid there. I think it finally dessicated, and fell apart and in the spring will indeed be just dust.
As for vultures, which seem to eat anything, no matter how long it's been dead, well, during the warm season, I've seen them ignore dead skunks too.
Really, in the country we see more road kill that a person would in the city, or even in the suburbs for that matter. And we see a wider variety of road kill. From small stuff like poor turtles, to larger things, like deer.
Many of those smaller animals are dragged off the road and disappear, most likely eaten by another animal. Or we will see animals eating on them when we drive by. Crows, vultures, I even saw a group of turkeys eating on a dead deer (should have taken a picture of that!)
But hit a skunk...and that skunk will be there until the remains return to dust. I can say this with some expertise as I witnessed such an event. A skunk was killed at the edge of the roadway. He was laying mostly on the white line at the edge of the road. It was too late in the winter for flies to lay their eggs on it, and the resulting maggots to eat it, and so it just laid there, and laid there, and laid there. I think it finally dessicated, and fell apart and in the spring will indeed be just dust.
As for vultures, which seem to eat anything, no matter how long it's been dead, well, during the warm season, I've seen them ignore dead skunks too.
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