When I say ‘skunk’ you think of what? Yes, and we’re just learning about how complex it is.

The US is home for four types of skunks, the best known spotted and striped skunks, and the hooded and hog-nosed skunks found mostly in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. This nocturnal mammal lives alone (except when raising babies), close to home and is very non-aggressive. Skunks help us for they eat mostly insects, many of which are pests to humans. They also eat wild fruits, apples, and in the winter and spring they may also eat mice and the eggs of ground-nesting birds. They may walk up to 6 miles a night looking for food. Litters born in May or June range from 3 to as many as 10 young who remain in the nest for about two months. Skunks dig their own burrows but will also use abandoned dens of other animals, hollow logs, wood or rock piles, or lodge under buildings, stone walls, hay or brush piles and trees or stumps.
Skunks are rather defenseless except for one thing, the first thing we think of when we hear its name! They can aim and shoot a foul smelling chemical that can actually cause temporary blindness. But before they shoot, they warn the would-be assailant several ways: 1) They stiffen their front feet; 2) stamp; 3) growl and click their teeth; and, 4) raise their tail. Then they shoot, up to 16 feet! The feet must be on the ground and the tail up in order to squeeze this muscle. They won’t shoot into the wind either.
The chief odorous components of the spray have been identified as crotyl mercaptan, isopentyl mercaptan, and methyl crotyl disulfide, in the ratio of 4:4:3. Understandably, it was only recently that the components of the spray were identified. Perhaps no one wanted to volunteer for the job! The foul-smelling spray is an oily, pale-yellow liquid. It comes out as either as a fine spray or a short stream of rain-sized drops. Although the liquid travels only 6.5 to 10 feet, its smell can be detected 1.5 miles downwind.
Questions: how could such a complex chemical evolve in the skunk? How did the skunk defend itself while the smell was evolving? Isn’t it easier to believe the skunk, like all creation, is the marvelous design of the Lord Jesus Christ? “All things were made by Him.” (John 1:3)