Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word skunk originated in the 1630s and was adapted from a southern New England Algonquian language, likely Abenaki. This linguistic root combines words meaning to urinate and fox to describe the animal's chemical signature. The first written description of the animal appeared in The Jesuit Relations of 1634.
Modern taxonomy places skunks in the family Mephitidae. Their closest living relatives are actually the Old World stink badgers, a connection that remained obscure until genetic analysis clarified their evolutionary path away from the weasel family. While some Southern United States dialects use the term polecat for skunks, the two animals are only distantly related.
Skunk species vary in size from about 10 to 30 inches in length and weigh between 1 to 15 pounds. Their lifespan in the wild can reach seven years, with an average of six years, though in captivity they may live for up to 10 years. Spotted skunks are the smallest and hog-nosed skunks are the largest.
The great horned owl is the skunk's only regular predator. This owl uses its large size and powerful talons to capture skunks before they can spray, and its thick feathers provide some protection against the spray. In one case, the remains of 57 striped skunks were found in a single great horned owl nest.
The Centers for Disease Control recorded 1,494 cases of rabies in skunks in the United States for the year 2006. This number represented about 21.5% of reported cases in all species. Skunks in fact are less prominent than raccoons as vectors of rabies, though this varies regionally in the United States.