Can you guess what this is? Plus last week's answer and winner!
November 7, 2022
Monday Nature Mystery
We are pleased to announce the winner of our Monday Nature Mystery, Nicole Dyson. (Please email your snail mail address and preference for a hat or tote bag to [email protected].)
Congratulations to Nicole for identifying the skeleton of the Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis). Skunks were previously thought to belong to the weasel family (Mustelidae), but now they are classified as a separate family (Mephitidae), which has 12 species. According to the National Zoo’s page on this species, striped skunks are omnivorous, mostly eating insects but preferring to eat small mammals, fledglings, amphibians, reptiles, and fish during winter.
Last Week's mystery: Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis). Photo: Wikimedia user Sklmsta
Each Monday we’ll post a new photo and identify the previous week’s winner. They’ll receive an ASNV hat or tote bag.
Be sure to post your answer on our Facebook page @AudubonVA under the Monday Mystery post...do not reply to this email with your guess! We only accept entries from our Facebook page, not via email.
Please remember to write the common name, being mindful of hyphens, uppercase and lowercase letters and always include the Latin name in parentheses. To learn more about bird names click here.
Photo: Wikipedia user 'Pollinator'
This week’s Mystery: Who left this track?
Post your guess (please list both common name and Latin name) on our Facebook page @AudubonVA under this week's Monday Nature Mystery. Remember, we only accept entries from our Facebook page, not via email!
Good luck!
-Audubon Society of Northern Virginia
Please note that we only accept entries on our Facebook page where they are date- and time-stamped. Remember that, if you need to correct your entry, you should make a new posting rather than correcting the old one so that we get a correct time stamp for your correction. Winners are limited to one prize every 90 days, maximum 2 per person.
