Mike Hare, age 10, of Asheville, N.C., for his question:

DOES THE SKUNK EVER RUN OUT OF HIS ODOR?

Usually, when the skunk is in trouble, only one blast of his famous nauseous odor is enough to handle all of the problems, and there's plenty of odor left for the next time it is needed. And any expelled is soon replaced with more.

The odor comes from an amber colored fluid that is ejected from glands in the anal region. The fluid may travel as far as 12 feet and the odor can spread over a radius of one half mile. The bushy tailed skunk, found in ali parts of North America, gives three warning movements when he feels he is in trouble and before he turns the air rotten with his odor: he stamps his forefeet on the ground, erects his tail with the tip hanging down and, finally, raises the tip of the tail. If he's still unhappy: pow!