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When did the skunk family likely originate?
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skunk
Striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis).
Genetic data indicate that the skunk family, Mephitidae, likely originated approximately 30 to 40 million years ago.1
While the oldest confirmed skunk fossil dates back 11 to 12 million years, evidence of mammals displaying skunklike dentition can be traced back even further to the Late Cretaceous Epoch, which occurred between 100.5 million and 66 million years ago.1