Baby skunks are called kits or kittens and are born helpless, requiring parental care. A striped skunk can stop a predator in its tracks with its spray by six weeks of age. While the striped skunk, with its dramatic white V of fur from its head down its body, may be the most well-known, there are nine more skunk species in this family. The striped skunk is omnivorous, it eats both meat and plants. Its diet includes insects, small mammals, fish, crustaceans, fruits, nuts, leaves, grasses and carrion. The striped skunk is about the same size as a house cat. It has a small triangular head and little ears. Its legs are short with webbed toes and claws the striped skunk uses for digging and looking for food.

They are quite at home in a variety of landscapes, from wooded areas to grasslands and agriculture fields, and even in urban areas, among humans. They may be found in open, exposed areas, though they seek cover in brushy, weedy stream and gulch bottoms or canyons. Pasture, farmland, and hay crops, especially along fence lines, are also utilized. They are resilient and flexible in habit and diet, and not afraid to live in the proximity of humans. Underground dens in well-drained sites which the striped skunk either excavates or, more often, uses after they have been abandoned by other mammals such as woodchuck or foxes, serves as homes. Dens may have one to several openings to the surface, and may extend underground for distances up to 50 ft.