The Madagascan Fossa - A Cat-Like Mongoose Relative

The fossa is the largest predator in Madagascar. It lives in forests, both in trees and on the ground, and is active in the day or at night. The fossa (pronounced "FOO-sa") is a fierce hunter and an excellent tree climber. It travels up and down trees and along their branches with ease, and can move rapidly over land as well. The fossa was once thought to be a type of cat, but researchers have now concluded that it’s related to mongooses, despite having a body with several cat-like features and a dog-like muzzle.

Madagascar is the fossa’s only home in the wild. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classifies the fossa population as “vulnerable” due to the loss and fragmentation of its habitat. Animals in the vulnerable category are likely to become endangered if the factors hurting their population size aren’t changed.

Fossas are slender animals with elongated bodies. They may reach a length of up to six feet, measured from their nose to the tip of their long tail, with the tail taking up about half their length. Females are slightly shorter than males. Fossas weigh up to around twenty two pounds.

A fossa's coat is a reddish or golden brown color, and it has a projecting face or muzzle which has long whiskers. The fossa has rounded ears and a bulbous nose. Its eyes are large, which helps it see at night.

A fossa’s hind legs are longer than its front legs, which enables it to leap from branch to branch in the trees. Its long tail helps it to balance as it jumps. A fossa has semi-retractable claws like those of a cat and extremely flexible ankles, which can bend through an angle of 180 degrees and help it cling to tree branches and walk head first down tree trunks. Fossas in captivity have been observed hanging upside down from ropes with just their hind feet attached to the rope. They walk on the soles of their feet, unlike cats and dogs, which walk on their toes.

The scientific name of the fossa is Cryptoprocta ferox. "Crypto" comes from the Ancient Greek word for hidden, and "procta" from the word for anus, and refers to the fact that the animal's anus is hidden inside a pouch, which opens to the outside via a slit. "Ferox" comes from the Latin word for fierce.

Fossas are usually solitary animals and are often hard to observe because they move so rapidly through the tree canopy, leaping from branch to branch. Their favorite food is lemurs, which may be almost as large as the fossa. They also eat rodents, birds, reptiles and sometimes insects. Fossas hunt both in the trees and on the ground. They mark their territories with a secretion from their anal glands.

Occasionally fossas have been observed in pairs or small groups, and they have sometimes been seen engaged in cooperative hunting. They make yelping, chirping, purring, snoring and mewing sounds. They sleep in a den on the ground or in a hole in a tree.

In the wild, fossas breed in September and October. Mating usually takes place in specific trees that are used each year, although it has also been observed taking place on the ground. A female may stay in her mating tree for up to a week and attract many males. The mating process may last for up to an hour or more, and the female may join with several males while she is in the tree.

The youngsters are born in the trees or in a ground den. Between two and four babies are born after a gestation period of two to three months. The babies are weaned at about four months old. They stay with their mother for at least twelve months, and are ready to mate at around four years of age. Fossas in captivity live for about twenty years.

The IUCN maintains a “red list” of threatened animal species. In the latest version of the red list the fossa population is classified as vulnerable, and its numbers are decreasing. The forests in Madagascar are being destroyed for agriculture. As a result, fossas sometimes prey on livestock, especially chickens, and risk being killed by farmers. Fossa have bred in captivity, but their population in the wild is under stress.