than shoebox-sized, just right for squirrels, too large for mice, too small for
raccoons and cats. I knew that mother skunk wouldn’t fit, but the wire box could
accommodate one of her squirrel-sized babies. While not as ominous as The
Blob or Creature from the Black Lagoon, this could be serious. No one wants to get
between mother and young, especially not Mephitis mephitis.
I needed to proceed with caution. Chemical weaponry might be deployed. I
grabbed a flashlight and slipped outside.
32
Charles Darwin, in Voyage of the Beagle, reported that skunks feared ‘neither
dog nor man,’ and their smell could be perceived at one league (about three
and a half miles). These mammals have the perfect defensive weapon and are
well-advertised with eye-catching black and white stripes. Their chemical blast
doesn’t kill but leaves such a searing memory that repeat encounters are rare.
Forty million years of natural selection produced a mammalian group that is
docile and self-assured, confident that their chemical arsenal is just a tail snap
away. These animals are not aggressive and make good pets. Why bother with
claws and teeth when it’s possible to knock out an adversary from ten feet?
Does an overpowering arsenal, well-advertised, act as a deterrent in such a
way that future generations evolve to be insouciant? Kenneth Waltz, author of
The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: More May Be Better, said yes. He noted that the
world has enjoyed more years of world peace (lack of a major war) since 1945
than was known in the entire 20th century. That was the year that the United
States dropped a pair of atomic bombs on Japan. There have been notable close
calls and accidents, some due to mechanical failures, some not. Regardless, the
consequences of launching a nuclear missile with many times the destructive
force of an atomic bomb are inconceivable. By comparison, effects of sending
in troops with conventional weapons, waging cyber skirmishes, or tightening
economic nooses are minor. Heads of state can be stupid, evil, petty, but like
most of us they tend to do things only when think they can get away with them.
When a skunk is alarmed it flexes his tail; when a chief is challenged, he puffs up
and struts his nuclear buttons.