Are skunks part of the rodent family?

Answer 1

The word CARNIVORE can be used as a taxonomy term (order of mammals) or a diet term......but....

No, skunks are CARNIVORES and have very sharp canines to tear flesh. Many carnivores (by their taxonomy) however may be able to eat plants too and are called omnivores. Bears, like skunks, have very sharp canines, eat flesh, but also can eat berries, etc, so they are omnivores by diet. Our dogs and cats are also carnivores by taxonomy, but their diet is omnivorous esp since the pet food industry adds all sorts of veggies to the pet food. Left wild, undomesticated, many cats and dogs in the wild would perhaps hunt a lot more and eat more meat.

Also rodent taxon is not a family. Families end in -dae letters in the latinized term. Rodents are famous for their enlarged incisors that allow them to chisel-gnaw at their foods, typically vegetarian-herbivore. They do not have the emphasized canines found in carnivores.

Answer 2

No, skunks are not part of the rodent family, I could get into detail about the family,and species etc., but others have answered that for you, the easiest way to tell is to look at they're teeth, skunks have small canines used for tearing off pieces of meat, making them carnivores, all rodents even capybaras(the largest rodent on earth) share one thing, they all have what we call buck teeth, to chew threw anything, even sewer pipes, they are two very large downward protruding, square teeth that look like the chiclets on "Dennis the Menace", by the way if you do decide to check make sure you check the teeth, this ensures your in front of the skunk, you don't want to get behind it

Answer 3

Skunks are moderately small mammals with black-and-white fur belonging to the family Mephitidae and the order Carnivora. There are 11 species of skunks, which are divided into four genera: Mephitis (hooded and striped skunks, two species), Spilogale (spotted skunks, two species), Mydaus (stink badgers, two species), and Conepatus (hog-nosed skunks, five species). The two skunk species in the Mydaus genus inhabit Indonesia and the Philippines; all other skunks inhabit the Americas from Canada to central South America.

Skunks are sometimes called polecats because of their visual similarity to the European polecat (Mustela putorius), a member of the Mustelidae family. Skunks were formerly considered a subfamily of the Mustelidae (where some taxonomists still place them), but recent genetic evidence indicates that they are not as closely related to the weasels and allies as formerly thought.

Answer 4

Skunks are moderately small mammals with black-and-white fur belonging to the family Mephitidae and the order Carnivora

Answer 5

Striped, spotted, hooded and hog-nosed skunks belong to one of five families of dog-like mammals descended from the wolf-like Vulperines

Answer 6

No. Rabbits and skunks each have their own respective families.

Answer 7

They are either in the weasel or rodent family,I'm not sure..

Answer 8

rodents are order rodentia
Skunks are order carnavora

so NO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodent

Answer 9

no they are part of the weasle family
they often EAT rodents though...

Answer 10

There part of the weasle family, with otters, and minks.