Big-Thicket Hog Nosed Skunk

No other specimen since the first description

The American hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus leuconotus) belongs to the family of skunks and stink badgers (Mephitidae) and, thanks to their adaptability, occur in a relatively wide range in different habitats. The IUCN classifies them as not endangered, but two out of three subspecies are already considered extinct: This refers to the Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk, which is endemic to the US state of Texas, and the Furnace Canyon hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus leuconotus figginsi), which was last detected in Colorado in 1932.

The American naturalist Vernon Bailey described the big-thicket hog nosed skunk in 1905 using a male specimen, which was collected by animal collector James H. Gaut on March 17 of the same year. At this point, the skunk must have been very rare, because no further individual could be found afterwards. Bailey presents in his scientific Initial description find out what the Big-Thicket subspecies of the eastern hog-nosed skunk (C. l. leuconotus) differs:

“Generally similar appearance to Conepatus mesoleucus mearnsi, skull usually narrower, teeth lighter (…) upper molars relatively long and narrow, upper and lower scissor teeth noticeably smaller than comparable specimens of C. m. mearnsi.”

Biological Survey of Texas, North American Fauna 25, 1905, V. E. Bailey.

Research currently recognizes three American hog-nosed skunk subspecies, but that wasn’t always the case. Until 2003, when skunk expert Jerry W. Dragoo and his colleagues for one study for the taxonomic reassessment of hog-nosed skunks, morphological and molecular characteristics of the animals from the genus Conepatus examined more closely, eleven subspecies were assumed. Dragoo concluded that C. mesoleucus and C. leuconotus are the same species, so he combined them under the name C. leuconotus. He classifies the eight subspecies listed to date—texensis, mearnsi, mesoleucus, nelsoni, venaticus, nicaraguae, sonoriensis and filipensis—as part of the nominate subspecies C. leuconotus leuconotus. He considers the two subspecies figginsi and fremonti to be a single subspecies: C. l. figginsi; the third subspecies is C. l. telmalestes, the Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk.

Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk – fact sheet

alternative names	Swamp hog-nosed skunk, White-backed skunk, Eastern Texas hog-nosed skunk
scientific namen	Conepatus leuconotus telmalestes, Conepatus mesoleucus telmalestes
original distribution area	Texas (USA)
Time of extinction	1905
Causes of extinction	Hunting, loss of habitat

Geographically separate and extremely small distribution area

Even back then, Dragoo pointed out that further genetic tests would be necessary to find out whether it was the case figginsi and telemalestes are actually unique North American subspecies or just hog-nosed skunk populations. The reason: The three subspecies are difficult to distinguish morphologically. He also points out that for the two subspecies or populations of the Big Thicket and Furnace Canyon hog nosed skunks, insofar as they are not yet extinct, different conservation measures would be necessary than for the more widespread eastern hog-nosed skunk C. l. leuconotus.

While the eastern hog-nosed skunk, which still exists today, is found in the USA in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, as well as in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, the range of ​​the other two hog-nosed skunk subspecies is very small. The distribution area of ​​the Furnace Canyon hog-nosed skunk was limited to the American states of Colorado and Oklahoma, which border the habitat of the nominate form. The area in which the Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk occurred was geographically separated from that of the other two subspecies and much smaller. It lived exclusively in a heavily forested region called the Big Thicket in southeast Texas in Hardin and Liberty counties in the eastern part of the state.

When did the Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk become extinct?

One Conservation Project Report on American Piglet Skunks from 2006 it can be seen that that hog-nosed skunks were considered the most common skunk species in East Texas in the early 1900s. It is said that 80% of all individuals collected were collected between the 1850s and 1900, 13% between 1901 and 1950, and only 7% after 1950. In the early 1980s, American zoologist David J. Schmidly in Texas mammals east of the Balcones Fault found that the number of hog-nosed skunks is declining in south Texas and that the eastern subspecies, the Big-Thicket hog-nosed skunk, is extinct. Dragoo and his team were unable to find any specimens during a census of hog-nosed skunks in South Texas in 1985 and 1986.

In The Game and furbearing Mammals of Big Thicket National Preserve (1980), Schmidly summarizes the results of his seven years of intensive research work in the Big Thicket National Preserve, where the Big Thicket hog nosed skunk once occurred: Despite thousands of kilometers of searching with traps and extensive interviews with fur trappers, he found them no evidence of the presence of hog-nosed skunks.

According to Schmidly, the Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk must have already become extinct in the 1970s and 1980s and many zoologists (including Dragoo in one article 2009) assume the year of extinction to be 1905—the year in which the subspecies was first described as a new species. It is not known that any other specimens were collected in addition to those used for the initial description.

That’s why hog-nosed skunks are dying out

Although hog-nosed skunks are listed as not endangered by the IUCN at the global level, some American states consider them threatened at the local level, according to the 2006 report on the status of hog-nosed skunks. In Colorado, for example, hog-nosed skunks have been classified as “critically endangered due to extreme rarity (five or fewer records of occurrence within the state or fewer than 1,000 individuals)” since 2006. In New Mexico and Oklahoma, hog-nosed skunks have also been considered “endangered (six to 20 records or fewer than 3,000 individuals)” since 2006 due to their rarity. In these US states there is a hunting ban on hog-nosed skunks.

The situation is different in Texas and Arizona: There the populations are large enough that the animals can be hunted all year round as predators or fur animals. Hog-nosed skunks have previously been hunted for their fur—also the Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk:

“Under a fur trapper’s shed on a ranch on the Tarkington Prairie in November 1904, I saw eight or ten of their skins hanging out to dry, along with a small number of skins from Mephitis mesomelas [striped skunk] hides. Each was worth 40 cents, less than half the price the black Mephitis skins.”

Biological Survey of Texas, North American Fauna 25, 1905, V. E. Bailey.

In Brehms verlorenes Tierleben (2007), Hannah Zeckau and Carsten Aermes state that it was not only the hunt for fur that led to the disappearance of the Big Thicket subspecies, but also the culling of these animals— which were considered disease carriers—for the purpose deliberate extermination. Like other predators, hog-nosed skunks are carriers and hosts of countless ectoparasites, such as fleas and ticks, as well as endoparasites, such as tapeworms, roundworms, and hookworms.

It is also known that hog-nosed skunk populations have declined in recent decades, particularly in the northern part of their range. There, the dense bushland that the animals need to live has increasingly been converted into agricultural land. Interspecific competition with wild boars (Sus scofra) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) poses a threat, according to the IUCN. There is also the loss of animals due to road traffic and the use of pesticides for pest control.

In the case of the Big-Thicket hog nosed skunk, which probably occurred in manageable numbers in its small distribution area, hunting by fur trappers and other hunters and the destruction of its natural habitat are likely to have been the main reasons for its disappearance.

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