This Conserving Carolina Speaker Series at Landrum Library on Thursday, April 26th will feature Robin Eng, a graduate student at Clemson University, presenting on “The cute and the cryptic: Eastern spotted skunks in the Carolina Appalachians” at the Landrum Library at 6:30 p.m.

This is a free program, open to the public.

The program will discuss Eastern spotted skunks, a squirrel-sized mephitid, easily distinguishable by four broken black and white stripes that run the length of their body and bushy white-tipped tail. If you’re lucky (or unlucky) you might even see a spotted skunk perform it’s characteristic “handstand behavior” – a defensive gesture made just prior to spraying as a warning for predators to stay back. Although they were once a common furbearer species throughout the eastern United States, the spotted skunk has been in decline for decades, and have only just become the focus of intensive research efforts. In this presentation, we will discuss the history and ecology of eastern spotted skunks, outline ongoing research that is occurring in Carolinian Appalachians, and identify ways that the community can assist us in collecting and reporting biological records of the elusive eastern spotted skunk.

Contact the Southeast (Polk County) office of Conserving Carolina to register for the workshop or for more information, 828-859-5060, or Pam Torlina at [email protected].