#mephitis

Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis), family Mephitidae, found in most of the U.S., Canada, and northern Mexico

Striped Skunk Mephitis mephitis

A skunk that occurs across much of North America, including southern Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. The English word skunk has two root words of Algonquian and Iroquoian origin, specifically seganku (Abenaki) and scangaresse (Huron). The Cree and Ojibwe word shee-gawk is the root word for Chicago, which means 'skunk-land'.

Finally, here is the brand new, redesigned version of my main Original Character - Winter M. Golden!

Formerly, she was a stoat character. However, because I'm known as Winter Skunk on the great world wide web.. why not make her a skunk instead?

So I went ahead and switched her species to the most easily recognizable, iconic member of the skunk family. The striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis)!

Which is quite ironic, as skunks used to be classified as a subfamily in the Mustelidae family, until the year 1997, where a DNA study suggested having them elevated to their own, independent family: Mephitidae.

It was then widely accepted by the scientific community. The family Mephitidae means "noxious odor" and it includes skunks and stink badgers, closely related to the Ailuridae family of red pandas. Despite this, some institutions continue to list them under their old classification, as a result I often get in touch with various entities to request helpful, up-to-date corrections to their content in order to reflect the new taxonomy, reducing taxonomic inertia. Which can improve conservation efforts. Though, both families remain in the same superfamily, Musteloidea.

Rather than her beautiful coat turning white in winter, she just gets floofier during the cold season, I guess.

Her full name is Winter Marie Golden. As stated before, Winter loves to socialize and hang out with others. I would like to add that she enjoys playing video games. She is a programmer, her favorite music genre is rockabilly, and is fond of coffee.

Whenever Winter wears this mysterious, powerful golden bracelet that was discovered in a lost forest, she shapeshifts into another member of the Musteloidea superfamily.

I would describe her personality as clever, resourceful, intelligent, loyal and hard-working.

Her friends are Spring Spots (a fancy American mink who resembles a mini dalmatian), Summer Rose (a hyperactive ringtail who collects rocks and shells), and Autumn Pumpkin (a mostly reclusive red panda who is fascinated with biology and geography).

As for their enemies..? Well, there's Dry (an American badger), and Wet (a Giant Otter). Dry is selfish and arrogant. Wet is manipulative and also sleazy.

I'll post more art of Winter and her friends soon! I'm still working on the antagonists, but I'll keep everyone updated!

Skunk at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (via USFWS Mountain-Prairie)