I once had a dog in the ground, when I spied an almost entirely white skunk coming down the hedgerow toward us.
At the same instance, the unmistakable smell of skunk came from underground.
What followed was a few minutes of intense action.
It all ended well (skunk spray can kill a dog underground), but as we were filling in, I spied another sign of what I suspected had attracted the skunks: a “Red Velvet Ant”.
Red Velvet Ants, sometimes called ”CowKiller Ants” are actually a kind of wingless wasp that lays its larva in underground wasp nests.
Both of the skunks, and the Red Velvet Ant, were after an underground wasp nest a bit deeper in the sette.
Lucky for us, we had not hit it!
For the record, the sting of a Red Velvet Ant is VERY painful, ranking 3 out of 4 on the Schmidt's sting pain index.
Do. Not. Mess. With. Them.
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