Local expert on the scent

By Gwyn McAllister
Published: February 26, 2009

• Reader Comments
• Printer-friendly version

Over the past four years Luanne Johnson has spent a lot of time, mostly in the evenings, on the beaches of Martha's Vineyard tracking and studying skunks. Her research, carried out for her doctoral dissertation, "Behavioral Ecology of Striped Skunks Inhabiting Coastal Waterbird Nesting Areas," has attracted the attention of national media, and she established herself as a sought-out expert on skunks.

"I was a shorebird biologist for a long time and skunks are one of their predators," Ms. Johnson says, explaining the origin of her motivation. "Not a lot of the research on skunks had been done on the shore."

• Purchase this photo

Biologist Luanne Johnson spent four years doing field research on the movements and habits of skunks.
Photo by M.C. Wallo

She was the focus of an article that appeared on the front page of the New York Times Science section in 2006, which resulted in her being approached by PBS to appear in a segment on skunks in its Nature series. She was also a featured guest on National Public Radio in 2007 and a guest on PBS's kids show "Fetch" in 2008.

The PBS Nature show, "Is That Skunk?" aired last month, and has brought more local attention to the biologist. (The one-hour show can be viewed online at pbs.org.)

Ms. Johnson explains that the show was taped during the conclusion of her field research. It took the crew two days of following the researcher on her daily prowls to get the requisite shots. She explains, "I told them I couldn't stage anything. I don't drug skunks for fun."

Each spring Ms. Johnson set out traps at dusk and returned to retrieve specimens at dawn. She estimates that she collared about 50 skunks and tagged about 150. During the summer months, she did her beach tracking at night with the aid of a portable radio and a night-vision telescope. She would observe the skunks' eating habits and would also follow their movements. She was surprised to find that skunks travel as far as two miles during their nightly foraging excursions.

Ms. Johnson, who first came to the Vineyard in 1992, and spent four years as a biologist for The Trustees of Reservations, returned to Martha's Vineyard in 2004 to work on her dissertation. She tracked skunks in three beach locations - Dogfish Bar in Aquinnah, Wasque Point on Chappaquiddick, and Long Point Wildlife Refuge in West Tisbury. She set out traps at night and returned at dawn to examine and attach radio transmitter collars to her specimens.

The PBS crew followed her for two days last spring and filmed her checking her traps and working on a female skunk. In her scenes on the show, Ms. Johnson is shown sedating the animal, using a syringe attached to a long stick. She then measures the skunk, cleans it of ticks and removes the radio transmitter collar, with which she fitted it at the beginning of her study.

The aim of the biologist's research was twofold. She was trying to determine whether or not skunks are a threat to Island shorebirds. It had already been determined that skunks eat bird eggs, but erecting fences has effectively prevented predators from raiding nests.

More of an issue was the possibility that skunks were going after chicks of protected species. Contributing to the problem is discarded food on the beach. According to Ms. Johnson, skunks typically limit their beach hunting to the dunes or the intertidal areas where they search for small invertebrates. Foraging for human leftovers in between puts them in direct contact with the shorebirds. Ms. Johnson stresses the importance of the "carry in, carry out" policy.

But in the four years that Ms. Johnson and her research assistants worked in the field, they never saw any evidence that skunks were feeding on shorebird chicks. "People driving on the beach pose more of a threat to the chicks," she says.

The second goal of the investigation was to determine how humans impact the skunk population and behavior. She says, "I'm trying to figure out why they're [on the beach], what kind of things in our landscape contribute to our skunk population, and what are people doing that attracts them."

What she discovered is that the skunks were spending a lot of time visiting beach houses. She says, "Skunks are subsidized quite a bit from what people are providing."

Common skunk feasting grounds include cat food and dog food bowls on porches, garbage receptacles, uncovered composting containers and bird feeders. Ms. Johnson also comments on another source of food that humans provide: "Everyone who puts in a lawn, puts in grubs." She adds, "There are great eco-friendly ways to get rid of grubs. Unless people treat for them they're going to have grubs."

The biologist is happy to have concluded her exhausting field research. "I will never study another nocturnal animal," Ms. Johnson says, laughing. She plans to complete her dissertation this summer. Although she has gained some notoriety from both PBS appearances, Ms. Johnson downplays her role in "Is That Skunk?" She says, "I'm only in it for about 15 minutes," adding, "The spotted skunk was amazing. He was the real star of the show."

Gwyn McAllister is a regular contributor to The Martha's Vineyard Times.