Dear ECOLOG-L members, My name is Gene Hamazaki and I am a wildlife filmmaker at a Japanese public broadcaster called NHK. We are currently preparing to make a film on wild skunks in the U.S., and would kindly like to seek advice or information on the following - 1 and 2 with the highest priority.
1) People who are actively studying skunks in the field. 2) Any information on where we can find active dens with mother and kits. *Concerning question 1 and 2, we are already receiving advice from Dr. Jerry Dragoo (New Mexico) and Dr. Robert Dowler (Texas), but as they are not actively working in the field at the moment, we would like to explore if anyone else is. 3) Anyone who has documented (...ideally on video) a predatory interaction between raptors (e.g. Great horned owl) and skunks. 4) Any additional information on juvenile skunks group defensive behavior described in the following paper - juveniles seemingly demonstrating a pinwheel defense similar to that of Musk oxen. http://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/552/552 5) Any interesting story you can share for our film. A brief description about our film: We would like to follow a family of skunk and her kits between late-May and June. In the film, we hope to focus on the ecology of the skunks as the kits start to explore the world outside their den. While focusing primarily on skunk ecology, we are looking into including their interaction with people in towns and cities. Thank you so much, in advance, for your time and kind consideration. We would greatly appreciate any advice or pieces of information you maybe able to provide us with. Warm regards, Gene *********************************************** Gene Hamazaki Producer Natural History Unit NHK Enterprises 5-20 Kamiyama-cho, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, Japan 150-0047 Tel: +81 3-3481-7890 mob: +81 90-4585-9271 email: hamazaki...@nhk-ep.co.jp http://www.nhk.or.jp/ocean/giantcreature/ http://www.nhk.or.jp/darwin/ http://www.nhk.or.jp/wildlife/ ***********************************************
