By Harvey

fosa (or Fossa)

Cryptoprocta ferox

Diet

Fosa are the top predator of Madagascar. They eat lots of the animals like lemurs, tenrecs (a hedgehog like animal), birds and reptiles .

Fosa are not that big. They are only 80 cm long but their tail is 5 ft (150cm). That's two times their body length! The average Fosa weighs 8 kg.

Size

Evolution

Fosa may look like they are cats but they are actually more closely related to the Mongoose. They evolved from a common ancestor many years ago.

One of the biggest threats to Fosa is habitat loss so we had a morning tea on our boat to raise money. We donated to the Wildlife Conservation Society who are working with local groups in Madagascar to teach about Fosa and save their habitat. We raised 100,000 Ariary!

Mating

When Fosa are mating their coat goes a reddish colour. The Fosa mate in tree branches and while they are mating the male grabs the female by the waist. The female gives birth to 2-6 pups in a burrow, in an old termite mound, or a hollow in a big tree.

The babies are blind and toothless when they are born. Their fur is light grey- brown, or nearly whitish and after 2 weeks their eyes open and their fur darkens to pearly-grey.

Did you know that Fosa are the baddies in the movie Madagascar because they eat the Lemurs!

Over the last 21 years the Fosa population has dropped by 30 %.

They estimate that there are 2,500 left in the wild.

Fosa look like a cross between a dog and a cat, but they walk with their heels down just like people do.

Fosa mark their territory by rubbing their belly on a tree. They have glands on their tummy which release scent.

You can spell their name two different ways:

Fosa is local Malagasy spelling.
Fossa is how you spell it in English.

I used Malagasy because that's where they're from.

Fun Facts about Fosa

Sources

I got my information from Wikipedia, The Animal Facts website, Wired, Arkive, A-Z animals, and my favourite animal book.