Why Do Skunks Smell so Bad and What Can You Do About It?

My household was recently hit hard—nausea, vomiting, watery eyes. No, it wasn’t the flu. It was a skunk.

In a valiant effort to protect the backyard, our dog was sprayed right in the face. She then tore through the house like a tornado, trying to run away from the smell (and her own face) for 30 fateful seconds before we realized what was going on.

The smell was everywhere.

At first I hadn’t been able to place the incredibly strong smell, but it set off alarm bells in my brain. I remember thinking that perhaps something was burning.

If you’ve been unlucky enough to smell skunk spray up close, you know it smells very different from the odor you may catch a whiff of when you encounter roadkill or otherwise pass at a distance. At first, I hadn’t been able to place the incredibly strong smell, but it set off alarm bells in my brain. I remember thinking that perhaps something was burning. In the immediate aftermath, all of us vomited, including the dog. Our eyes watered and burned as if the air was thick with tear gas.

As defense mechanisms go, skunk spray is impressively effective. Skunks can reportedly aim their "weapon" accurately as far as 7-15 feet away. And it turns out that what makes skunk spray so powerful comes down to chemistry. 

Why does skunk spray smell so bad?

The contents of a skunk’s spray depend on the species of skunk. In North America, there are six: the Eastern and Western spotted skunks, the hooded skunk, two species of hog-nosed skunk, and perhaps the most recognizable, the striped skunk. But despite their differences, all species employ a spray that contains smelly molecules called thiols. These are chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms with one sulfur atom and one hydrogen atom attached on one end. 

What makes skunk spray so powerful comes down to chemistry.

Sulfur atoms are known for making things stink, like rotten eggs, burnt rubber, or raw onions. Thiols have the additional quality of being easily spread or dispersed in the air. So the initial punch of skunk spray is already pretty deadly. 

Scientists studied skunk spray in the 90s to determine its specific components. The group, led by William Wood at Humboldt State University, needed a sample of an organic compound called trans-1-butene-1-thiol for some of their other work. The compound isn’t something you can just buy on the internet, so they decided to find out if they could extract it from skunk spray. They sedated...

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