Nature Stinks! Stinky Nature. If you've ever smelled a skunk, you know it is not a nice odor. In fact, it's terrible! Did you know that both plants and animals can smell bad? Stinky plants smell bad to get helpful insects to come near. Stinky animals often smell bad to keep enemies away. Smelling bad helps both plants and animals stay alive. Stinky Furry Animals Skunks are well-known smelly animals. When enemies get close, skunks lift their tail and spray a stinky liquid. Striped polecats are cousins of skunks. They stink even worse! Lesser anteaters are at least four times as stinky as a skunk! They shoot a smelly liquid at their enemies. Opossums pretend to be dead if an enemy is near. They stay still and let out stinky green slime. Wolverines make a smelly liquid to keep other animals away from their home. They also pee on food they don't eat right away. The smell may help them find the food later. It may also keep other animals from eating it. Male musk oxen fight each other for females. Males use their stinky pee to tell other males to keep away. The pee sticks to their long belly hair and makes them smell terrible. Stinky Birds. The stinkbird mainly eats leaves. Food goes to its crop (the area under its throat) before the stomach. Tiny living things there break down the leaves. This way of eating makes the stinkbird smell terrible. Vultures eat animals that are dead and often rotten. When vultures are in danger, they throw up! The stuff they throw up is very smelly. Stinky Bugs. A type of beetle sprays a hot, stinky liquid from the back of its body. The spray can kill many enemies and burn people. Millipedes (MILL-ih-peedz) can't move fast. If an enemy bothers them, they curl up and give off a stinky liquid. Some millipedes can even shoot the smelly stuff! Other Stinky Animals. The common musk turtle has another namestinkpot! It smells bad when other animals disturb it. A stinky yellow liquid comes out of the back of its body. Musk turtle A female mink frog can lay 500 to 4,000 eggs at once. 14 A musk turtle can live forty to sixty years. Mink frog The mink frog also uses smell to stay safe from enemies. It smells like rotten onions. Good and Stinky. Being stinky helps many plants and animals stay alive. For plants, the bad smell brings helpful insects. For animals, the bad smell may keep enemies away or help in other ways. Stinky steam, spray, throw-up, slime, and pee all help living things stay alive.