Until now, scientists had thought that a skunk’s black and white colour was enough to keep predators away.

A new study has shown that the shape of the skunk’s body is enough to frighten off other animals.

Wildlife researcher Jennifer Hunter prepared a series of stuffed skunks and grey foxes. She dyed some of the skunks grey and some of the foxes black and white. She put some in places where skunks were common, and others where skunks had never been seen.

Hunter found that in skunks’ natural habitat, predators avoided the dyed skunks, proving that the body shape is very important.

She also saw predators that had never seen skunks would attack both colours of skunk. This shows that predators are not born with the knowledge that they should avoid skunks, but have to learn it.