Step aside, honey badger. Sit down, grizzly bear. Far Cry 5‘s best animal is the fearsome skunk.

The revelation comes from Executive Producer, Dan Hay, who confided that a new animal was at the top of his personal pyramid way back at E3 2017. Just ahead of the game’s release on 27 March, Hay was happy to talk about why he thinks the skunk reigns supreme.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that animal to be,” Hay began, gathering his thoughts. “So what it can do is basically… I kept running into it and it’s tough.

“It actually sprays out this mist, and it confounds the enemy. So there’s nothing better for me than rolling up to an outpost and seeing a skunk, taking a shot at it, and watching it get pissed off the enemies and then watching it just create mayhem. Absolutely my favourite.”

Hay seemingly hasn’t changed his mind since last year — without naming the animal, he told Stevivor that, “It’s small and it’s mean. It’s defensive. And when you unleash this thing — these things — they cause all kinds of trouble… it’s got a very unique defensive mechanism.”

The skunk is dangerous to your enemies, but also dangerous for you, Hay added, also offering a surefire way to engage it.

“Fire is the key,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Far Cry 5 heads to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 on 27 March. Stay tuned for more with Hay.